Trans-dimensional Bonds
by curry-llama
Summary: When everything goes right you can trust it will go wrong. When you're on top of the world you can trust you'll be brought back down. Unfortunately for Danny it seems the case and sometimes it takes being ripped out of your dimension to see it. Where Danny ends up in a different dimension and can't seem to help but care. I drew a cover picture of their new family photo. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 **Ok before all of you guys kill me for starting another story let me just say that I actually did** _ **finish**_ **the last one I was writing. This story is comparatively lighter in mood than my other stories which were angst ridden. Don't blame me I'm just a teenager XD. Anyway this will be less angsty if that's even a word (probably not).**

 **It's a slow story, so that means heavy character development, a lot of feels. It's not movie centric but you don't really need comic knowledge either. Just basic Marvel knowledge would be fine. In Danny's timeline is set after PP but since Danny's going to be thrown into another dimension his identity will be a secret anyway. This is not set in the movie verse! I repeat this is not set in the movie verse! This is actually set in an alternate verse before Spidey joins the avengers, during his early years. He knows the X-men by then. Doesn't follow any of the comic timelines either but if it's similar to anything than it's the Ultimate Spiderman timeline.**

 **I usually don't write this much before a chapter but I need to get some warnings out.**

 **M rated for a reason- coarse language (that means swearing, children** **), mentions of rape (Danny's NOT going to be raped if you're wondering- they are fighting crime in the streets though so you get the gist of it). There's also going to be mentions of human trafficking, people taking drugs and smoking and general shit like that. There's not going to be any sex involved. Maybe it will be intoned or mentioned but this is NOT smut. So yeah, despite this mostly being light hearted and there being a lot of jokes and puns involved it's still for mature audiences. Although the mature themes are mostly toned down but the warnings still out there so you guys know if you want to back of now. Some fanfic authors had taken away my childhood innocence without warning before and I realised I had read pure smut halfway through. Yup I was ruined for life after that- actually I'm just exaggerating but honestly I'd like to know what I'm reading so here's the gist of it for you.**

 **Also I want to get it out there that I don't own marvel… but let's get this straight even if I did own Marvel I'd probably still be making fanfiction crossovers… or I'd be making them come true. I also don't own Danny Phantom cause my name sure ain't Butch Hartman or Cartoon Network for that matter.**

-Start-

There was a time and place for everything. The world didn't revolve around you. You always had to keep a level head and never get too above others. Those were all words thrown at my direction after the disasteroid incident that caused my identity to be revealed to the world. Heck I even had to sit down and have the 'talk' with my parents… not about _that_ \- get your head out of the gutter. They sat me down and told me the things fame could do to a person and how I should stay true to myself. I tried, really tried, but sometimes when praise is heaped on you to a point of absurdness then it really does get to your head. There were statues of me in every capital city of the world for Clockwork's sake. The moment I stepped outside my house someone wanted to know what I was doing. While I admit that sometimes I let himself get carried away in my own fame I never lost sight of who or what truly mattered to me. Early honours in bio-mechanical engineering, my own company, money, and all the smoking hot Mexican chicks in the world could not distract me from the hotness that is Sam.

"You know everything's been going real well-"

"Don't jinx it Danny," Sam warned pouting cutely.

"-So I've been thinking do you want to jig school and go watch a movie?"

"Just because every university and college is itching to allow your early entry doesn't mean I get the same hero status."

I twirled a pen in and out my fingers in boredom. It was great being rich, famous, and appreciated and all, but sometimes I just missed the thrill of sneaking out of class. It was never the same when your teacher just looked at you like you were a god or something and practically just put out a red carpet for your exit. I just really wanted to sneak out. It was part of my and every other teenagers' natural instinct to go against rules. Of course there were other less interesting thrills such as having to stop several assassinations on your family but that was for another story.

"You're no fun-" I began before the green alarm rang. Everyone dubbed that the Phantom alarm which was ironic because it was rather loud. It only ever came up when a major ghostly threat was in order. Most of the smaller ones were taken care of the reformed GIW branch. Did I mention I dubbed them the ghost busters? Yeah we are totes bros now. "That's my cue. Mr Phillips can you just mail my homework?"

The whole class swooned as I transformed and flew out. Yup, they _swooned_. I swear I was giving a few guys some boners too. I would know considering that moment I went on fanfiction and nearly fainted at what I read. Seriously me and Vlad Plasmius? What in the actual fuck was going through their heads?

The sounds of distress and laser guns bought my attention to reality. I dodged a few with ease. Once I finished my awkward growth spurt and got in some real hand to hand training in with mom a lot of bad guys couldn't touch me. Of course Vlad Plasmius was not just a bad guy. There was something really wrong with this picture. The GIW's new sect I nicknamed the ghost busters were lying on the floor clutching their various body parts in pain. I really liked those guys! Wait, wasn't Vlad in space?

"Wah? V-Vlad? Why did you have to hit down the ghost busters for our long awaited reunion? I really liked those guys. They're a definite improvement from the old agents and I thought we were bros!"

"You shot me into space child! You ruined the last chance I had for taking over the world! I will never be able to woe Maddie to my side! We are not _bros_!"

"Wow, wow, there, there big guy. Didn't your time out in space let you _cool_ down a bit. If not I can so help," Danny said as he blasted icicles at Vlad.

The older halfa growled and fought back with his ectoplasmic fire. I should have so seen that coming. It seemed his rage became tenfold after my comments. I was about to throw around some more witty banter but Vlad was not letting go of his rage. How did he even find his way back to Earth in the first place?

"You ruined my life!"

"Nah you're evil villain plans of world domination was just sub-par. It wasn't my fault that I would have to tone down my awesomeness just to let you win," I retorted trying to maintain my over-confident image, although that was looking increasingly impossible with how skilled the man was. "Why didn't you just buy a cat like I told you to?"

His red eyes glowed in rage. Whoops? Before I knew it an ectoplasmic powered punch broke through my shield and went straight to my face. When you get punched, trust me, it hurts like all hell. There's this moment when you really think you see stars before you're body rages in a throbbing ache. Yup, that was me right now. Oh how I did not miss this aspect of my early super-heroing days.

Groaning, I managed to stand up from the brick wall I had accomplished breaking through. I flexed my back, silently thanking Clockwork that there was no excruciating pain. No broken bones- check. Concussion- unsure. Bruising- most definitely. Of course rule number one of getting into any fight was hit your opponents down when they're not ready and I seriously wasn't ready when Vlad slammed into me again. I'd still maintained a semblance of my cognitive skills so I'd managed to knock him off me just in time before any serious damage could be delt.

"You're getting rusty. Has your perfect life made you soft?" Vlad growled, voice laced with bitter rage.

I dusted myself of and put on as brave a smirk I could muster after having my butt handed to me. Heh he was just jealous. The one upside to having a hero-complex and the world praising you constantly for it: confidence. Somehow it seemed like my cockiness alone could destroy any enemy in my path. Now that I just said that it does kind of sound like a recipe for disaster doesn't it. Note stop internally monologueing in the middle of a fight. Bad, bad ghostie.

"Hah, you're just jealous that I won the fight, beat you and got the girl! Haven't you read any comics? The heroes always win!"

The desired effect of a raging insulted Plasmius was not achieved. Instead he smiled at me like I'd said something really amusing. Ok when the villain smiled like that the situation was definitely becoming off-putting. They never smile like that unless they _know_ they're going to win. Of course with Vlad it'd always been hard to tell because his 'I'm better and richer than you' smile looked highly similar.

"Ugh, nonononono," Danny said as he put his hands in a cross like symbol in front of him, "You're definitely planning something. I know that look. It's that look that promises some sort of trouble! I call for a time out!"

"Daniel, you wouldn't want to disappoint your fans would you. Look at all of them just waiting to see another victory!"

"You're on Edward Cullen! _Sparkle_ for the cameras why don't you," I retorted, revelling in the blush that creeped through the older halfa's face. If there was one thing I missed it would be embarrassing this dude.

There was definitely some sort of surprise when I went in for some hand-to-hand. Of course Vlad wasn't the one who had his ass handed to him by his mother for the past two years. It really did butcher my male ego knowing that my own mother could beat my ass around. When Vlad retreated I couldn't help but give a mini victory smirk in response. He really wouldn't know what's going to hit him- actually he kind of did considering he knows me- you get the gist.

Warning bells rang in my head when he gave me that smile again. By Clockwork that smile should be banned. There should be some sort of law against it. Something big and green caught my attention as Vlad flew upwards all of a sudden. It was a portal! I tried to break but I was going too fast. I vaguely noted him going behind me and shooting me in the back. I groaned in exertion as I tried to stop but it was too late. Before I knew it the familiar feeling of death passed my body and I had wrapped my body through space and time.

It was dark when I went through. A chill went down my spine as my eyes adjusted. I hated it when I went through portals and woke up in a dark place. It always reminded me of the day I died and woke up in a dark, dimly litted lab room. This however was not a lab room. Once I found my bearings I realised that it was a dark alley way somewhere if the smell of garbage and piss was anything to say about it.

I'd crossed my fair share of natural portals so the first thing I did was look around before I transformed back into my human form. It was no real biggie. I would find another natural portal and call for Clockwork to find me a way back home. I just needed to look up the date and place and then find a way back to my timeline. Simple.

The odd broken down buildings kind of looked like a clichéd batman-esque setting. This was so Gotham. Was I in Gotham? Oh right, fiction. I really needed to get my head out of the gutter. Cross universal travel was fiction I reminded myself. I picked up a nearby newspaper and looked straight at the date. 2012. That was pretty close. I was only a few years off from my timeline. So all I had to do was find my parents from this timeline, infiltrate their basement and get a few spare parts to build a ecto-portal locater and get the heck out. This was going to be a breeze.

"Stay away!"

My enhanced hearing caught the attention of the sounds of distress and I immediately transformed. I flew into the scene and was shocked to find about 2 grown men cornering 3 children… who were holding guns? The oldest one, a still tiny looking (about 13 max) boy with shaggy brown hair was pointing the gun at the men, his hands shaking with fear. My breath hitched when I noticed the smallest in the group. He had long red greasy hair, striking green eyes and tattered clothing. He was clinging to a brown skinned girl with bright brown eyes in trembling fear.

"You shoot and we'll definitely kill you and take that little bitch behind you."

The only girl in the group backed up a little in fear as her grip on her knife tightened. I had about enough with what I saw. These were just children for Clockwork's sake. What were they doing in the streets on the bad side of town? I'd never even seen a town that looked this shady before. I flew down slamming the man with the gun down. He would have definitely been knocked cold from that. Before the other man could do anything I grabbed his gun and disarmed him before shooting him with ectoplasm in point blank range.

My rage seemed to dissipate a little when I saw the two men groaning in pain. There was still some leftover distaste from what I witnessed and I usually never shot humans with ectoplasm but these men deserved it. Preying on little kids was just sick. I turned around to see three shocked and awed children. I usually got that reaction.

Flipping my snow white hair and plastering on a gaudy smirk I decided to calm them down with my greatness. "Don't worry Phantom's got you."

"P-Phantom?" the oldest boy asked in confusion.

I raised my brow in surprise. The whole world had heard of my existence in 2012. I was just a few months in from the Disasteroid incident. Everyone should know about me. Then again these were just street kids… wait even homeless kids knew about me. I should know considering I had been the face of many charity organisations. Could you blame them wanting me when I had the most perfect smile?

"Yeah you know Danny Phantom. The ghost-boy, number one hottest bachelor of the year, won world's most charming smile and catchiest banter. You know the guy who saved the _whole world_ from a freaking asteroid!"

I looked down with expectation. I was expecting awe, wonder, fan-girling… why weren't they doing any of that? Why was I getting _that_ look from a bunch of kids I just saved? Hey, wasn't that look reserved for loonies who told you aliens were about to invade?

"There was no asteroid Mr. I think you mean the alien invasion that happened in New York. Plus you weren't with the Avengers."

"Avengers, alien invasion…" I mumbled before laughing. I wiped the tear out of my eyes. "You kids crack me up. Now let's get back to business. Where's your parents, guardians or whatnot?"

"We don't have any. Are you blind?" the girl asked with a heavy dose of sass.

"Hey, hey I know how this goes down. When my parents died in that alternate timeline I had to go through social workers of all kinds. I think my memories of paperwork and shrinks scare me more than my otherwise dead parents."

Ok now I knew something was up. Why were they still looking at me like I was a looney? The oldest boy gave me one last distrustful look before taking the hand of the smallest member and leaving.

"We are not going back to that orphanage!" he yelled before walking away quickly.

I huffed and crossed my arms in exasperation. So much for helping out right? I grabbed the two disgusting men and flew up so I could get an aerial view of the city. It was definitely foreign. Maybe some other part of America? It definitely didn't look like Canada or Australia for sure. I would know considering I'd gone there because of the statue thing that happened around the globe. It was like a world trip and all. Awesome times. I noticed the familiar symbols for the police station and dropped the men up front. A few cops looked startled and pointed their guns at me.

"Wow, wow take it easy. Just the saviour of the world and all dropping by a few thugs. Tried to mug a few kids with guns. It wasn't pretty."

"Put your hands up!" one officer yelled.

"Goddammit another vigilante? Wasn't the last one a ninja guy or something?" another one grunted.

"I think you mean the Devil of Hell's Kitchen," the other cop replied, not taking his eyes off me… not that I blame him I wouldn't want to take my eyes of me either.

"Vigilante?" I mumbled in confusion before I dodged a bullet. Wow these guys were serious! "I'm Danny Phantom!"

They just blinked in confusion at the sudden outburst and continued shooting. I swore under my breath and flew away. Why the heck did they shoot at me? I was Danny Phantom for Clockwork's sake! I was _worshiped_ as a _god_ in a few countries. Even if this was the recent past I should have still been getting fairly good reception. Dammit Sam was probably yelling 'I told you so' after she warned me about the jinx.

I flew down next to the library and transformed back into a human making sure no one saw me. I quickly made my way to a spare computer. This place must've been poor because obviously these things looked ancient.

I searched up alien invasion and Avengers after a sneaking suspicion caught root. Were those kids from before actually looney or were they for real? I felt like a rock was caught in my throat when Avengers did come up on the search engine. That would only mean that instead of travelling through time like portals usually did I was sent through to a whole another _universe_. Suddenly all the reactions from before made sense and my worry increased. I immersed myself in this world. There was an insane amount of heroes flying, running, and generally heroing everywhere. There were mutants, the fantastic four (couldn't find anything else to alliterate?) and a whole bunch of other groups like the Inhumans. Half these people sounded like they could pummel me to the ground. It just sunk in the fact that I was in fact in another universe entirely. This wasn't just time stream meddling this was breaking through time and space and everything in-between.

Going back to the right time was easy. Moving across universes and finding the right one to travel back to was near impossible. I quickly searched up ghosts and found nearly nothing. I sighed and sank into my seat in frustration as a sense of gnawing anxiety picked at me. I pushed it aside. What would Jason Bourne do? That guy was like a run-away legend right? He survived without using his identity for like five years. I rummaged through my pocket. I huffed in mild relief when I noticed I had my driver's licence and a wad of cash before it crashed onto me that this was a goddamn different universe. What if they still used shekels or pennies? What if they didn't take drivers licences as id's?

"Fuc-Fudge this!" I growled, catching myself before I swore. A few people around me gave me strange looks and I shrunk in on myself. Swearing inside my head was fine but mom hit me like crazy if I ever did it out loud. Then it suddenly dawned on me that she wasn't here...

Heaving a sigh, I deleted all of my search history before I got up and walked through the streets. It was dark and did I mention I didn't like the dark? My body wracked in thought as I transformed back into Phantom and flew back to where I first came in. Damn natural portals and closing after someone goes in. Why couldn't they stay open for like another damn minute or so? My eyes scanned with great ease (did I mention I had great eyesight) where I had originally come from. It just felt right to go back to where this mess started and back track everything that happened. I was about to land when my attention was once again caught by the three children from earlier. Shouldn't they have gone back to the orphanage? Usually kids acted all strong but in the end they'd always go back to adults… right?

"Why are you kids still here?" I asked with obvious irritation. I could understand waving around guns in the true American spirit when someone's going to mug you but they really should be running back to an orphanage. Kid's never stayed out even if they told you they would. In the end they always ran back to the next adult to protect them… so why weren't these kids doing that?

"It's the glowing weirdo," the girl grunted as the newspapers around her crumpled with her waking form.

"Glowing weirdo?" I grunted with mock hurt as I grabbed my heart dramatically. "You mean more like the glowing angle of beauty and everything awesome."

"What are you doing here again?" the oldest boy asked with unhidden distrust.

"That's what I should be asking you. Obviously you were nearly killed just like a few hours ago. Shouldn't you be running back to little miss sunshine running the orphanage?"

"We. Are. Not. Going. Back!" the girl said with utter finality as she hugged closer to the youngest boy.

I grimaced a little. I was not used to getting this sort of treatment from the people I saved anymore. But they didn't look threatening, just scared and vulnerable. I felt like helping them. Was I becoming soft? What was I saying I'd always been soft. Soft is my middle name. Not really it was James but you know my parents forgot to add Awesome in there as well.

"Ok, ok, no going back. I get it but I can't just let you guys sleep out here."

"You're glowing. What can you do except for fight?" the older boy asked, eyes narrowed in mocking anger.

I flinched back a little. There was so much contempt behind those words that it really did sting. What _could_ I do except for fight? These kids were out here on the streets fending for themselves and I could only provide a quick save. 'Award for the lamest hero of the year goes to Danny Phantom', I cheered sarcastically in my own head.

"Look I don't usually glow-" I began before a familiar voice caught my attention and the children visibly paled.

"That's the brat that did this!" the thug from earlier growled.

"What the f-fuge? How did you get out? I swear I put you in prison like 5 hours ago," Danny asked in shock. He clearly remembered handing those men in not a few hours ago.

The little girl stood up and grabbed her knife before looking at me desperately. "Why didn't you kill him?" she asked hysterically.

"Kill him? I don't kill just anybody. You have to really deserve it" I replied frowning, "but I sure as hell remembered giving him to the police."

"You gave them to the police?" the older boy yelled in frustration. "What are you, daft? Everyone knows the police are corrupt!"

I was about to make a quip about being from another _universe_ but right now precedence was going towards protecting those ungrateful brats. There seemed to be like a whole twenty of those men and all of them had the same tattoo on their right shoulders that looked oddly like cobras.

"You're in for a beating kid," a man growled as he took out his bat.

"Oh yeah," I said cockily, "What are you guys the bird brain cobras or some shit?"

"How did you- It's the flying Cobras- never mind! Boy's get him!" the leader growled.

I felt my muscles flex in anticipation and my body tense unsurely. These were a lot of men and despite being as over-powered and as awesome as I am there were limits to what I knew I could do to humans especially when my mind was preoccupied by protecting the kids. If they got hurt then it was on me and I was never great with responsibility.

'Bless you mom,' I thought in my head as I used her training. I disarmed a few men before punching them down. Thankfully my enhanced strength made it all the more easier for them to stay down. Unfortunately they were larger and had weapons of all sorts. Where did they buy a goddamn mace from?

"You're going down you little fuck!"

"Now, now there are kids here and we're all at an impressionable age. Be a good citizen and mind your language," I retorted as I grabbed the bat he was holding and flung him to the wall. A shooting pain stung through my arms as the sound of gun shots rang through my ears. I looked at my arm in shock and realised I was shot. With real fucking lead! It hurt in a whole different way than an ecto-gun did.

That's when I noticed that a man had ran past me to grab the kids. I growled in anger as I shot at him with a reinforced large bit of pointy ice. I revelled in his pain for a second as he grabbed the leg that had been stabbed through before I noticed the kids were screaming. It was the small one, he was shot somewhere in the stomach!

"Tod! Tod!" they screamed as a man snatched the older boy away. I was about to shoot him too when I felt a metal bat curl around my neck and choke me against a large man. I chocked for a second before turning intangible and kicking him in the nuts.

"They've got Cal! They got him!" the little girl screamed catching my attention.

"Dammit!" I growled as I was forced to pay attention to the more imminent threats. I wasn't going to be able to catch up to the runner when there was still more than half of them and two possibly wounded kids behind me. I'd lost all my will for any sort of bravado or witty comment. They had taken this too far.

"Retreat!" one of them yelled out.

"Oh no you don't," I growled as I caught one of the retreating men with my good arm.

I kicked him straight in the balls before punching him in the face. If I ran now I could catch up and saw Cal or whatever his name was.

"P-Phantom, Tod's bleeding out!"

My attention turned from the retreating forms of the thugs when I saw a crying and sickly pale visage of the little boy. I stumbled away from the retreating thugs and knelt next to the boy tracing my fingers to his pulse. It was incredibly weak. Panic overtook my senses. I never had to deal with gun-shot victims before. Of course first aid had been vaguely taught at school and I'd watched a lot of cop shows so I did what I'd heard. I quickly transformed into my human half ignoring the shocked gasp from the little girl as I took my red hoodie of and ripped off the bottom of my shirt. I bundled it and put it on the little boy's abdomen.

"P-put pressure on it. Tod was it?"

The six or so year old nodded weakly and I bit my lip in fear. I had no time to be awed at how brave the kid was because he was bleeding out and it had been because I was too weak to save him. The panic became too much as I looked at the sobbing girl pull away Tod's long raven bangs from his face.

"Do-do you know where the hospital is?" I asked her.

"T-To far away," she replied cradling Tod's head protectively. "There's t-the Doctor close by. She patches us u-up for f-free."

I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and pulled myself together. I was the oldest one here. I needed to be strong for them. A little boy had already been kidnapped under my watch and I wasn't about to let another one bleed out to death.

"I will fly us there so get on my back," I ordered as gently as I could. The girl looked startled at the command but quickly nodded and pulled away from the half-conscious boy. I picked up his small frame in my arms while I let the other girl climb onto my back. A shooting pain electrocuted my arm and I winced but bit it down just as quickly. Now that the adrenaline was coming down to an all-time low it seemed my body was remembering the bullet shots it took.

"Hold on tight and point me to the direction ok," I said as I started flying. Her grip around my neck tightened and I found myself thanking Clockwork that I didn't need air because she sure was cutting of my wind pipes. I did as she told me, flying in the direction she pointed until we made it into a small building block. It didn't look rich but it certainly was more liveable than the streets. "In here?" I asked making sure to which I got a confident nod.

I flew straight into the apartment not really in the mood to explain that intangibility was harmless. Right now getting Tod to some medical attention was priority. Any other minor details could be explained later. A tall slender African-American lady jumped up in surprise before going for her gun. I tensed a little knowing that I was still intangible and that whatever she did wouldn't hurt me or the kids. When her stance relaxed to that of shocked confusion I finally let my intangibility down.

"I need help," I pleaded desperately.

Her guarded posture instantly melted into a militaristic poise when she noticed the trembling child in my arms. She seemed like a whole different person from before.

"Put him down on the couch!" she said hastily.

I did as I was told, gently laying down the child as she ran to get some tools. I watched helplessly as I wrapped an arm around the little girl who clung to me in a sobbing mess. I embraced her awkwardly as the women started on the makeshift operation. She glided through the procedures mechanically and efficiently. She administered anaesthetic before taking a tweezer and pulling out the bullet with great concentration.

"Hold him down!"

I reluctantly let go of the little girl as I went to hold down the thrashing boy as she took out a needle and started stitching him up. When his eyes rolled to the back of his head my heart sank in terror but she continued. I shivered away as his small body went limp and watched in morbid fascination as she finished the stitching and sat back to take a breath. The world seemed a little tipsy but maybe that was because I'd just watched a little kid have a bullet taken out of him. This all seemed a little surrealistic.

"I-Is h-he ok?" the little girl asked breaking the silence with her small hope filled voice.

"Yes, he's going to be fine," she said with so much confidence that I instantly felt my troubles melt away. That's when I finally slumped to the ground and I felt the rings of light travel down my body transforming me back into a regular human. "But you certainly aren't. Take of your clothes," she ordered.

I obeyed unsure of why her voice was so authoritative but it didn't matter because she was a doctor and doctors saved lives. I took of my hoodie and then my ripped shirt revealing a rather bloody arm and a huge gash across my chest.

"I don't have any pain killers left," she told me apologetically. I shrugged and slumped down on a chair she led me to. I'd gone through worse when I'd first started off in my line of business. It became a daily occurrence to stitch myself up. Thankfully I had accelerated healing and scars usually didn't stay for more than a year… well unless they were the big kind.

She put the tweezer in gently as she pulled out the two bullets. I bit my lip at the unfamiliar sensation within me. This certainly was different to healing ectoplasmic wounds or knife wounds. It was a whole lot more prodding than I appreciated for sure. She probably thought I wasn't feeling anything. I always prided myself in not grimacing or crying out like a little baby. It was mostly because Sam would whack me in the head when we first started out. My squirming did nothing to help her stitch me up.

"What exactly happened?" she asked. I knew what she was doing. She was trying to distract me from the pain by answering questions and getting that part out of the way simultaneously. Sam did it often when I started my career as Phantom.

"I was just floating by like a normal citizen would when I saw two thick headed idiots threatening some kids," I began wincing a little as the tweezer grazed my open wound, "so like the good citizen I was I helped the kids out. Then I come back a little while later and the thugs from before bring in the whole boy band and we had a rodeo…"

"You're not another masked vigilante are you?" she asked with distaste, "Not that I don't appreciate you helping these kids out but-"

"Nah, I don't do masks"

"That's not what I asked"

"Well you asked if I was a _masked_ vigilante and the answer is no. I'm not even a vigilante in general. You could say I'm more like a ghost buster," I replied truthfully although in my universe I was more often described as a fashion icon, a renowned genius, millionaire celebrity, saviour of the world and a whole bunch of awesome titles I couldn't pronounce like playboy philanthropist (although in my opinion I was not a playboy. Sam was the only one for me!). It was a good thing I didn't say that out loud because I would have come of more like a narcissist jerk than someone honestly speaking the truth.

"Ghosts- never mind… If an alien invasion was real then I don't see why not," she mumbled as she poked in the needle.

"No need to be gentle. I really need to get back out there again so quick is more appreciated than gentle."

"Oh no you're not. I'm not about to let a kid go running around fighting gangs with guns," she replied with finality.

"You don't understand, there was another kid, Caleb, and he was taken," I protested.

"We need to save him!" the little girl butted in hastily.

The air became tense as she continued stitching my arm in silence. She looked torn between letting me go and forcing me to stay in. Right now I wanted to follow the doctor's orders but I also had someone to save.

"Just let me finish stitching up the wound on your chest and then I'll let you go," she said sighing.

"That easily?" I asked in confusion. She sounded like one of those stubborn types so I didn't expect her to cave in so easily.

"I've met your kind before and I know you won't back down."

Well she wasn't wrong about that.

-End-

 **The doctor's actually Claire Temple from the Daredevil tv series. I don't read much Daredevil comics but I'm sure there are versions of her there. I'm going with the one on the Tv series because I usually read Spiderman comics, although Daredevil does look pretty awesome.**

 **I usually don't portray Danny as a cocky prideful person but I thought you know people have been giving him hero worship for about a year or so in this so he'd probably have an inflated ego (also because I hate Mary-sue characters. Everyone needs some character flaws). Of course that doesn't mean that he isn't the same old kind Danny who helps others and is an exemplar hero. Also I'd like to say that this Danny will only kill if absolutely necessary. I've realised in the cartoons that he actually has destroyed a few ghosts or tried to anyway but mostly he catches them and chucks them back in the Zone. And as to why bullets affected him there's an explanation to that too; it's because my version of Danny Phantom can only body bend if he does it on purpose. It's so he's not OP against others. In the range of how strong he is… well I'll say he's comparatively as strong as Spiderman (although a little less so) and in my opinion that's pretty strong. That guy can hold a force of 49000 newtons!**

 **Anyway sorry about this insanely long authors note. If you've read this far then I'll congratulate you because if it was me I'd just skip this section. I promise that after this chap this section won't be as long. I'll answer questions here though.**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed! I'll try to include other heroes in the next few chaps!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 **A lot of this story was written a long time ago, in a land far, far away… I'm actually not kidding I began this story like six months ago and just left it there until recently (and all things considered Australia is a pretty far, far away land). Don't worry we aussies enjoy our seclusion from the rest of the world. It really helps when we don't get caught up in the political crossfires. Anyway as for Danny's character- well let's just say that he's self-confident because of the praise he receives from others but when it's taken away from him he starts questioning himself. I wanted to show some character growth in Danny so he isn't going to be as insufferable and self-appreciative as the first chap… well scratch that he's still going to be up himself once in a while. It's too fun to write XD**

* * *

Currently I was beginning to question my sanity. I'd been dropping down punching a few bad guys, asking them 'nicely' for answers and the such. It occurred to me that maybe I should be worried about Vlad doing whatever it was he was planning to do on my planet while I was away but it seemed like such a far of worry. There was the government who had missiles, nukes, swat teams and an armoury full of ghost fighting weapons now. They weren't weak anymore but Caleb was. What did they even plan to do with a kid his size and age anyway? He was what 13 at max.

I dropped down on another thug. This one had to be it. He had the flying snake tattoo on his arm like the others although it was barely visible from under his sleeve. I grabbed his neck from behind and sent some ghostly chills down his spine. Humans were susceptible to fear whenever I'd touch them in this form. No wonder why Sam was iffy about me man-handling her when I was Phantom.

"Don't turn around or you'll die," I lied in the most disembodied voice I could do.

I could feel him whimper under my power and I frowned in anticipation. I hated having to use the 'dark side' of my powers. It always left a bad aftertaste when I did. If it didn't I'd probably be running around overshadowing people left and right to get my way.

"Where do you take the people you kidnap?"

"I-I d-d-don't k-know!"

"Try again!" I growled crushing his neck a little.

"T-they'll kill me i-if I tell!"

"I'll kill you if you won't," I retorted. Again with the lies. Gosh I was beginning to sound like Batman. Intimidation was not my thing. What if he didn't cave and I couldn't hurt him? Mom didn't teach me interrogation 101 yet.

"It's d-down at 55th. They hold them at the port kraters!"

"That wasn't so hard was it?" I asked laughing back in my normal voice.

"What-" the man gasped in shock as he was met with the glowing figure of a child. I smirked with that 'I just pranked you' smile. Oh the shame he must be facing when he turned around to see a kid rather than a scary monster. He'd nearly peed himself as well. That would definitely be embarrassing. "You're j-just a kid! Why you!" he growled as he lunged for me.

I grabbed his fist and twisted it behind him before breaking his arm. _Crack._ The sound vibrated through the empty street and was followed by a shrill cry of pain. I cringed a little as the man writhed on the floor grabbing his contorted arm in pain. Some part of me felt good after seeing him in so much pain. What kind of men threatened little orphaned children, shot them, and kidnapped them? If anything they deserved this pain right?

I ran a hand through my white hair and took a shuddering breath before laughing weakly. "I'm not freaking Batman. I've got to tune the angst back to level 1."

I flew down to the docks turning myself invisible as I did. The whole place merged together in the most dreariest colour schemes I had ever seen. It was all tones of brown, black, more brown, and red with a scent of piss and shit to the mix. The ocean breeze even had a disgusting salty odour to it rather than the downy wind and wafting scent I was used to. Why was this place so goddamn disgusting? Did I mention that it seemed a little too quiet for my taste… well unless you counted the muffled sobs I was hearing down in the far end?

I flew down towards the sounds of crying when I noticed a figure dressed in deep red ghosting above the kraters. Was this some sort of ninja assassin dude that was meant to protect the premise or something.

"Scream!" a man demanded. I watched in growing anger as he poked the gun towards a bunch of women and children. They shrieked in horror, their matted hair clinging to their hollow faces with sweat. They looked ragged, undressed, scared and it made me feel the same. I looked around ghosting as silently as I could until I noticed Caleb in one of those kraters. He was sobbing, his long brown hair seemed to hide his frightened eyes in the dark but I could see it clearly. He was shaking like a leaf.

I was about to fly in and kill those bastards when ninja-man jumped in and took one out swiftly. The downed man's partner took out his gun and alerted the others. He was taking them down. 'That is a good thing' I told myself, 'Now I can focus on freeing those people.'

I flew down and turned visible as the ninja-man (might I add wearing tights that could impress the whole cast from Magic Mike) started fighting the thugs. The women and children shied away in fear but I could see Caleb's eyes shoot up with so much intensity it made me shudder. Those were not the eyes of a child. I needed to help them.

"I need you guys to go!" I yelled at them. "Me and that other dude will keep them at bay!"

They weren't making a move. I hit the metal krater in frustration startling them more than I intended. "Go! Now!"

They scrambled away when my attention turned to one of the human traffickers. I disarmed his gun and shot him in the chest with my ecto-blast. He slammed into a metal krater and fell limp. I turned around and shot a few more of the remaining thugs before I turned to Caleb. The boy cried out in relief and agony as he rushed to me and hugged me. My muscles tensed in shock but I slowly melted and embraced the child.

"It's ok. I have you. It's ok," I whispered into his ear.

"T-they… Lilly and T-Tod?" he asked through his sobs.

"They're fine. Tod's fine. Lilly's fine," I assured him stroking his matted brown hair and pulling it out of his face. It startled me that this was a child who was just kidnapped and he was worrying about his two friends first. I kissed his forehead gently coaxing him to calm down before I heard a man come up behind me. I jolted around ready to knock out another man before I noticed it was the ninja from before.

"Who are you?" he asked gruffly. "How did you know to come here?"

"Phantom," I replied before I looked back at the kid behind me. It seemed that simple gesture was enough to have him understand. "Look super-secret-ninja-dude, I really appreciate the assist but I need to take this kid somewhere safe. Clockwork knows he needs it right now so sorry if I have to go."

"It's Daredevil."

"What?"

"My vigilante name. It's Daredevil," he explained before he grunted and walked away. "And don't get in my way again."

I refrained from shooting back an immature comment. Right now really wasn't the time to be cracking out my witty banter. I picked up Caleb and he grabbed my neck and clung to me like a baby monkey. I gripped onto him tightly as I took flight and dropped back into the Doctor's apartment. I really needed to ask for her name. She didn't look like the time travelling time lord so I was going to assume she did have a name. She jumped up in shock before sighing when she realised it was me.

"You could use the front door you know," she grumbled.

"Hmm… that would be a lame thing for a ghost to do. Could you imagine what the other ghosts would think if they knew I rung door bells?" I asked in mock horror.

I dropped the sleeping child onto a spare couch and felt worry bubble up my throat when he sobbed a little in his sleep. What had they done to him in the day I had been searching for him?

"Where's the other kids?" I asked.

"I got them to sleep on my bed for now. Lilly is not letting go of Tod," she replied. "Where did you find him?"

"Down by the docks. He was going to be s-sold," I said shakily. The reality of the situation hit me hard. They were selling _humans_ real living, breathing _humans_ and treating them like cattle. Somehow the haunted expression that crossed over the doctor's face didn't help the dreadful feeling in my stomach. "What i-is it?"

"Oh god…" she muttered looking at the boy in shock.

"What is it?" I asked again, this time grabbing her by her shoulder and shaking her. Why did she look like she was about to cry? What was it about that information that made her react in such a violent way?

"T-They always…"

"Always what!" I asked impatiently.

"They always rape their catches," she mumbled silently.

I took a shuddering breath and stepped back before collapsing on the couch behind me. My mind went blank and I couldn't imagine what I had just heard. Rape. That word scared me. I had thought they were threatened, maybe hit around a little… but rape… rape was different. It violated a human far more than torture ever could and for them to do that to a little boy. My eyes flashed crimson red in pure anger.

" **I'm going to kill them!** " I raged.

The doctor's frightened face snapped me out of my rage and I forced myself to calm down. Never before had I used that voice unintentionally and the last time it happened was when I fought Dan.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to lose control like that. I-It's just that… how… why? He's just a kid," I put out in horror. "It's so- so _wrong_."

She nodded before taking a sorrowful glance at the kids. I noticed her eyes harden again like they were forced to block out some emotion or another she should be feeling. It went instantly back to that façade of professionalism that Vlad always wore around his office.

"I'll check him over for injuries. Why don't you go take a shower?" she asked me. "Do ghosts need to take showers?"

I transformed back into my human half and nodded. "Yeah, a shower would be nice," I muttered.

"Good the towels are to the right and you can borrow whatever clothes you want but after these kids are healed all of you are back out."

I nodded although I felt like protesting. Was she really about to just kick out a bunch of kids that went through a traumatic experience? I understood if it was just me but a fucking six year old was shot and she expected them to just go back out? 'Not everyone is like you,' I reminded myself. Not everyone went out of their way to help others. 'Did I even help people? Well I did help fight ghosts but did I actually help people?' That thought hadn't crossed my head before. I'd always been the hero, the person that goes out to fight the baddies and save the day, but it never occurred to me that the people I saved from ghosts needed saving from much worse things.

I stripped down and turned on the shower. The cold water trickled down my body and I felt my scars close up in response. Thank the Ghost Zone that it was winter here or healing would have taken much, much longer. The gash across my chest had all but healed up. It was still tender to the touch but taking out the stitches didn't hurt nearly as much as it would normally with intangibility. I rubbed the grease and grime out of my body, surprised at how much there was in the short time I came here. Maybe the gritty nature of this place just naturally made you dirty?

Some part of me wanted to curl up in a ball, forget everything that happened and stay in the shower for another hour or so in hibernation. I didn't really want to have the good doctor pay a large water bill though. She had already done more than what most people would for a bunch of strangers and it hardly felt right to ask for more. I sighed. If mom and dad were here they would know what to do. Heck they would just outright adopt these children and go on with their wacky lives like usual. But I just had to go get stuck in an alternate universe didn't I?

I dried myself of, putting on my half torn black shirt and was internally glad that my body did extremely well with the cold or I would be shivering my ass of now. I put on my red hoodie to cover by the scars I had recently accumulated and walked back into the living room where I smelt food. Oh by Clockwork was I hungry.

"It's just canned soup but it's better than nothing," she said handing me a bowl.

I took it gratefully before looking back at the couch and realising Caleb wasn't there. I gave her an inquisitive look of apprehension and worry. I just hoped she'd tell me she found no signs of rape or beating at all and that the kid was just a little shaken up. Of course knowing my luck…

"The kids are asleep… Caleb I'm not so sure of. Tod however is going to make a quick recovery. No major internal organ was grazed, that lucky kid."

I suddenly lost all appetite I had for eating and I had to stop myself from cracking the ceramic bowl in my hand in half. How could I have let something like this happen to a bunch of _children_ under my watch? I was a goddamn hero! I was the super amazing, hot, egotistical… bastard? What had I become? I was meant to save them and if not I was the one meant to take the bullets for them. They were just kids…

"I'm sorry I never introduced myself. My name's Claire Temple. I work as a doctor in Hell's Kitchen's very own broken down hospital."

I took her hand and forced a smile. "Danny Fenton but most people know me as Danny Phantom, half-ghost hero," I replied shaking her hands.

"Half-ghost? Do I even want to know how it happened or how it's even possible?" she asked.

"Well it's not really a secret (anymore). When I was fourteen I managed to turn on my parents ghost portal while I was still inside of it. Let me tell you getting electrocuted and having your molecules rearranged is not a fun way to go- er well half-go I guess."

"So you just upped and decided you'd be a hero?" she asked with disapproval.

"Well not really. I mean I was just the nerdy kid that got picked on so I kind of just stayed in the shadows at the beginning. I mean I was so afraid that my parents would rip me apart 'molecule by molecule' so I didn't really do anything until a ghost decided to attack my school after we changed the menu."

I smirked at the memory. Those were the glory days for sure when it was just me and my team and the world didn't know about me. I mean dying was pretty bad but it wasn't horrible. It was like the lamest origin story but it was still mine and I clung to that moment in time like a lifeline. My childish ideals of heroism really did play a major aspect in my image.

"Why didn't you just let your parents fight? Weren't they 'ghost hunters'?"

I snorted. "Well they're way more capable as scientists in my opinion. Plus all ghosts come inbuilt with this annoying factor called an obsession. Three guesses as to what I got," I challenged.

"Heroism, narcissism, suicidal tendencies?" she quipped.

"Ouch," I said wincing. "Try more like protection. I have this crazy thing where if I see someone needing protection I just got to give it to them. Let's just be happy it wasn't world domination and the such. That always ends in a crappy future."

She laughed a little and we went back to a comfortable silence. I ate the soup slowly wondering if maybe it was better if I waited for it to cool down. I looked back at the room where the children were sleeping and I instantly began scooping spoonful's into my mouth out of plain anxiety. What was I going to do with them? I couldn't just leave them out in the streets after what happened. The guilt would eat at me if I knew they got hurt again.

"You can't look after them," Claire said catching my attention.

I growled lightly in protest before gulping down whatever was in my mouth. "What else am I meant to do? I can't just leave them out there and they won't go back to the orphanage. I-It was my fault they got hurt in the first place…"

She put a hand on my shoulder and I refrained from shrugging it of in anger. "It wasn't your fault. They would have died for sure if you weren't there. But you can't take care of them- at least not when you can't even take of yourself."

"I will," I said with finality. "I don't care if I have to rob a bank. I will take care of them. I can't watch what happened to them happen again. I just can't."

I must have sounded pathetic. I was just a seventeen year old kid for Clockwork's sake. Since when was I supposed to start providing for others? I wasn't even at legal age to drink yet. There was no one else to take care of them though. They would just go back on the streets and become another crime statistic… and it would be entirely my fault for not doing anything.

"I usually don't do this but I'll let you and the kids stay here until you can find a job and move out," she sighed before a look of self-loathing crossed her eyes, replaced quickly with distaste. "And it's not because I'm heartless. I can't give anybody special treatment. I take care of the larger part of the homeless community and what I do for one I do for the rest. What do you think they will think of me if I give special treatment to you and those kids?"

I took in her apology and instantly felt bad for thinking she didn't care. That's why she always put on a professional air just like Vlad did. It helped ease the pain… wait why am I sympathising with Vlad now too? I finished up the soup and when she took the bowl out of my hands my manners instantly kicked in.

"I'll do the dishes," I offered instantly.

"You just took two bullets to your arm and fought a bunch of idiots with guns and knives afterwards. I think there's enough strain going around your body already," Claire huffed.

I pulled up my sleeve to reveal the closed up scar where the bullets should have been. She looked surprised and that was enough to make me smile proudly. Super awesome healing factor. Plus these were just normal bullets so it healed much faster than an ectoplasm based injury.

"Don't worry, I've been impaled before and I just slept it off. A few gun shots aren't anything new… ok scratch that I'm mostly used to laser or ectoplasmic based guns so lead is pretty new."

She huffed in exasperation as she pulled her hair back. It looked oddly sexy but I had to remind myself of the age gap going on here. That never stopped Tucker from trying though… oh Clockwork I hope I never become _that_ bad.

"I don't even want to ask how you got impaled but that does not change the fact that I won't let a guest do the dishes."

"Guest? Wow that's to put it lightly. You're letting a bunch of wounded, dirty, strangers sleep over. That's not guest material at all. Now let me wash the dishes. It's the least I could do," I insisted as I pushed her gently out of the way and started washing. She leant into the kitchen table next to me looking down at me with calculative eyes. I was used to that kind of reaction from a lot of the adults but somehow this situation made it somewhat uncomfortable. Maybe it was because she clearly didn't like little kids playing heroes. That was something I never got back at home. Everyone was just immensely grateful that I existed. They all owed me their lives after all.

"You're clothes aren't worn and baggy and you definitely aren't malnourished but you're certainly not looking to go back home. What's the story kid?"

I paused, wondering if I should tell her but it made me all gloomy. Dammit I vowed to stop being an angsty teenager after I turned seventeen! But this was real baggage and it made me feel depressed.

"Let's just say that home is real far away," I grumbled glaring at the plates.

Thankfully the dishes were done quite quickly. It helped that I could just turn the grime and food intangible before giving the plates a quick rinse. And the old GIW said that ghosts were useless. We would make mean dishwashers in my opinion.

"You should go to sleep. You've been out all night fighting and I'm sure your body still needs time to heal," she pointed out.

"Some shut-eye would help," I agreed. I'd spent the better part of the night getting shot at and tracking down Caleb. I really did need some sleep. I went down to the bedroom where the kids were sleeping and felt a smile tug on my lips at their cuteness. They had taken showers apparently… except for Caleb. They huddled together like little penguins on the bed and I had to take out my phone and snap a few pictures. Damn they were cute.

Suddenly Caleb whimpered and his body twisted to the right exposing his pained expression. It looked like he was having a nightmare. There was some form of irrational rage that threatened to overcome me before it was just as quickly replaced with worry. I sat on the side of the single cot and stroked his head. He seemed to calm down and cling to me his scrunched face loosening a little. Maybe I could stay awake for a little while longer. So I just sat there stroking his head, singing a song I'd heard my mom sing quite a few times. It had a soft melody, the kind that made you mellow and put your anxieties away.

* * *

I woke up on the couch for some reason. Pulling the sheets off my disoriented body, I mulled over how I got here in the first place. That's when I noticed that it looked like it was sometime in the evening.

"Mr Phantom's awake!" Lilly called out while the two boys sat in front of the tv glued to the screen. They suddenly turned their attention to me and it lacked that childish hostility that usually came from kids who thought you were annoying. Well at least there was a start. What really worried me was the way Cal drew into himself just as quickly and the way Tod flinched when he moved around.

Claire walked into the room with her work uniform on. I was about to comment on how it did nothing for her figure before holding my tongue. There was nothing sexy about a bed-headed teenager telling an older women she looked hot. Yup I would save that kind of flirting for when I went back to my universe where I was practically worshipped.

"I'm going out for work. I won't be back until midnight at best. I suggest you go find a job by then _Mr Phantom_."

"Wow why's everyone just throwing out my identity here and there?" I asked in mock hurt, "Don't you know the concept of a _secret_ identity?" Although to be fair I didn't have one back home.

"Just get your butt out," she said lightly as she left the house.

Lilly practically jumped over to me with a large smile. Her short black hair bobbing up and down in glee. I smiled back, relieved that I'd managed to at least protect one of them. She only had small scrapes around her knees.

"So are you a hero like Spiderman?" she asked excitedly.

"Spiderman," I snorted in amusement before I realised that there really was a hero named Spiderman in this universe. "Actually I am," I replied not wanting to let her down. Thankfully she gave me one of the sweetest smiles. Even Tod was perking up when he heard about Spiderman.

"You can shoot webs?" Tod asked meekly but with barely hidden excitement.

"Nah but I can shoot lasers and ice out of my hands? Plus what kind of kid-friendly hero would dress up as a scary arachnid?"

"That's not cool enough," Lilly teased to which I poked my tongue out. Mature. I know. "Can you take us out flying again?" she asked excitedly to which Tod drew in closer.

I really didn't want to say no to these kids. They were just so adorable which was a far cry from before they began trusting me. I caved in a little but I knew I had important work to do what with finding a job and all. If I really wanted to keep them of the streets I would need a stable income.

"I'll take all of you out once I get a job ok. Think of it as a celebratory trip!"

"Pinkie promise?" Lilly asked.

"Pinkie promise," I agreed as out pinkies connected. Tod silently put out his pinkie as well making me nearly swoon at the adorableness! Gosh he was so cute! No wonder Jazz gushed over me when I was little. I quickly turned to Cal and he looked hesitantly at my pinkie which I held out to him. He wrapped it around mine and I smiled warmly to which he replied with a hesitant smile. My heart ached for him. Clockwork knows what he was thinking right now.

"The name's Danny by the way. You can't call me Mr Phantom, that's my dad's name… well actually it isn't. Only call me Phantom when I'm in my superhero form ok." The kids nodded their understanding. "Ok I'm about to go. So stay put and don't move around ok. Lilly I'm putting you in charge."

"Aye, aye captain!" she said proudly.

"What about me?" Cal finally asked with irritation.

"We all know girls mature faster," I retorted before I ruffled his hair a little, "and you're hurt so you should get some rest. Let the older boys take care of you for once."

His breath hitched and fear caught his eyes all of a sudden. I pulled my hands away afraid that I had triggered some sort of memory. His breath became ragged and fast. He was having a panic attack! I knelt next to him in worry. This happened to me for a bit after I fought Dan. What did Jazz do? Come on think. I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. Tod and Lilly flocked next to him just as quickly.

"It's ok. Breath. You need to breath. Concentrate on my voice. You're not there anymore Cal. You're safe," I assured gently. He slowly stopped trembling as his breathing calmed a little. His arms wrapped around my neck as he cried into my shoulder.

"I-Is he ok?" Lilly asked with a fear laden tone.

"H-he's ok. He just needs some space. I'm going to take him to bed," I told the other two as I hastily carried him over to the bed.

"T-they…" he cried unable to get the words out. I gently pulled my arms around his shoulders and brought him closer. What was it that I said that triggered such a strong reaction? What was it that triggered my own panic attacks? _Freaky Fenton. Dan._ Ok so that was practically anything related to my evil future self or what he had told me at some point. What was it that I said? _Let the older boys take care of you for once._ A shiver went down my spine at the thought. What if that had been me in his position? What if an older man had told me that after I'd just been… raped. Oh by Clockwork I was such an idiot.

"It's alright Cal. You're with me, you're safe. They aren't here and I'll never let that happen again. I promise."

"Y-you're j-just going to leave. Like everyone e-else," he sobbed.

My grip around his shivering body tightened. There was so much pain in his voice that it physically hurt me to hear it. Why was he affecting me so much?

"No. I'm going to stay. I'll get a job and then you and Tod and Lilly can move in with me. We'll be like a big happy family," I assured him. A part of me screamed at the absurdity of my claim. These children weren't my family! They weren't my responsibility! They were kids… kids who needed someone and I am a hero… I smiled, concealing the worry bubbling in the pit of my stomach.

"Y-you've only known us for a day," he protested weakly.

"That's all I need. I'm a hero after all," I replied giving him a quirky smile to which he lightened up a little. I got out of the bed and knelt down in front of him, a serious expression crossing my face. "I'm really sorry that I let that happen to you. I'm sorry that I couldn't protect Tod from that gun… that I couldn't ease Lilly's worries."

"I-It would have been much worse if you weren't there," he said quietly. "We all would have been shot or…"

"Cal, look at me," I said in all seriousness. "I'm going to go outside and I'm going to find myself a job. It doesn't matter if I have to flip burgers all flipping day if it means I can protect you three. I'm letting you live outside there by yourselves anymore. It's far too dangerous."

"Thank you," he said with such a small heartfelt voice that I nearly melted. These were just children. They shouldn't have to go through these things. Someone should have helped them, taken them in, way before it got to this point. I clenched my fists and slowly walked out of the room. I had no time to waste. I couldn't abuse Claire's hospitality any longer.

* * *

 **I'm so sorry there aren't any super-heroes other than Dare-devil this chap! It's a slow-burn kind of story, and it won't be long until Danny is really immersed in the Marvel universe. I've just caught up on the inhumans, mutants, and the fantastic four comics and realised that I've excluded some of them from this story. Man the universe is just too big to get Danny involved with everyone and I'm not sure if half the readers even know about anything other than what's in the cinematic universe so there'll only be mentions of mutants, inhumans, and so on. This is also set before the civil war arc and I will not be addressing that at all. Danny is on an adventure in the Marvel Universe but he does still have family back in his.**

 **Also I apologise for the rape, or if that triggered anybody. I toned this story down a lot from the darker themes I had initially planned. I wanted to show the change of emotions someone like Danny would go through to become a stronger person, and he needed some challenges on the way. I think people like Danny are more challenged when someone else is in pain because that's where he thrives more. It's a pity that most fanfictions (I myself am guilty) victimise Danny and have him overcome challenges thrown at himself, rather than portray the cartoon version of him who predominantly does better when faced with the possibility that others would be hurt. Also Danny is not OOC in this considering in this time-line he is facing the effects of celebrity-hood (is that even a word?). That does not mean however that he does not have his old personality still in there. He is still caring, empathic, thick headed, and steadfast in his beliefs but he is also easily swayed by popularity and the such (also one of his traits in the show).**


	3. Chapter 3

**Wow I'm sorry for neglecting this story for a while. I was stuffed with assignments and school does take precedence over fanfiction. Anyway I moved through this story a few times and frustratingly reworded a million sentences because it wasn't good enough, but the quality of writing is still shit. Please excuse how sucky it is.**

' **Thoughts', "Speech", *Calls*, Sarcasm** _ **. –**_ **That's how the whole giz works here.**

 **I don't own Danny Phantom or Marvel, or Spiderman… that would be awesome though.**

* * *

I had gone in and out of stores asking for a job that didn't require me filling out forms or having any form of bank details. I didn't even have an identity for Clockwork's sake! How was I supposed to find a decent job? Well at least that was what was going on in my head when I walked into an electronics store. I practically begged the manager to let me work as a technician. He was apprehensive at the start and asked me to fix an ancient computer. Of course I didn't just have scientists as parents with no upsides. Universities everywhere were asking me to join not just because I was Danny Phantom but also because when it came to inventing I was brilliant. Some of the latest Fenton tech was created by yours truly. I even made a hover board with the word Fenton on it! My parents sure were proud that day.

"Are you sure your parents aren't like secretly rich billionaires that are searching for you?"

I raised a brow completely baffled at how my new boss could come up with such an out of whack scenario. Then again I was a millionaire back home. Of course it would have sounded even odder to the ears if he asked 'Are you sure you aren't a half-dead superhero from another universe?' Now that would have been weird and oddly alarming because how would he have guessed?

"No, no nothing like that. Why did you ask?"

"Well because you've obviously got some form of higher education but only street rats ask for jobs with no id involved and cash in hand. You seem like a decent kid and your clothes don't look like they're from the poorer side."

I blinked. "Sorry was you're name Sherlock?"

The man laughed a little, his old grey eyes twinkling a little in mirth. He was probably one of those hipster gramps or something. It was so odd how he seemed like a kid in an old person's body but it was odd in a nice way.

"You still didn't answer the question my dear Watson," he reminded making me swear internally. Dammit Jazz, I thought you taught me well in the ways of diverting conversation. Oh well I'd thought of a back story during my walk anyway.

"My parents are a little _overbearing_ so I've decided to take a break from them. Got three siblings that decided to tag along as well so now I'm practically stuffed on finding a new apartment before my friend well and truly kicks us out."

He nodded as if understanding some sort of deeper secret behind my words. He looked at me sympathetically before placing a hand on my shoulder. It was a little cringe worthy knowing he was getting the wrong idea about my parents. He probably thought they were abusive and that I left to take care of my siblings. It wasn't like I could tell him I'm from another dimension and I swore to protect three kids from living on the streets when I barely had any money myself. No one would take that well although I'd probably tell the kids sooner rather than later. I didn't like having secrets with people I lived with. It didn't help keeping it from mom and dad and it didn't look like it would help now.

"Well I hope it turns out well for you kid. It's such a pity you couldn't go to university. I'm sure you would have been brilliant."

I nodded suddenly feeling a little iffy about my situation. What I would do to have the infi-map in my possession so I could just whisk myself and the kids away to my perfect life. Life really didn't like giving me breaks but hey I got a job so upside right? It was a whole $15 dollars per hour as well. It wasn't like I was a millionaire like I was back at home but at least this guy was nice and he wasn't ripping me of.

So I spent more than six hours of the day tinkering away with Mr O'Neil for some of the repair jobs we were given by clients. It seemed most people in Hell's Kitchen preferred fixing what they had cheaper rather than just throwing it out and buying a new model. No wonder why the computers in the library were old.

"Do you know any places I can find cheap housing?" I ask tiredly.

"There's one down Lawson street although the place is falling apart. It'll probably be the only thing you could afford when you have to add providing for 3 children and yourself."

"Thanks Mr O'Neil"

"Call me Greg. Mr O'Neil makes me sound old," he laughed.

"You are old"

"Get out before I kick you out kid," he laughed as he handed me my days' pay and shoved me out of the door. I took the 90 dollars gratefully. It was a good thing I didn't try and use my money. There were distinctive differences in the paper as well as the colours although the people on it were apparently the same.

I walked into a Chinese store and bought some celebratory fried rice. Chinese fried rice was a blessing from the gods! Of course it put a large dent in my days' pay but hey you gotta eat when you gotta eat. I paused a little looking around to see if anybody would spot me transforming. It felt odd to going back to hiding my other form when I had just become used to showing it off to everybody. There was one thing I didn't want to do right now and that was poster my face on public media. I had absolutely no standing in this world. People would no doubt abuse that fact.

I flew through the streets at a steady pace. I really didn't want to drop my hard earned food. I flew in through the wall nearly giving the children a heart attack. They seemed a little irritated that I couldn't just use the door but when I took out the food they instantly turned into excited puppies.

"Chinese food! I haven't had that in ages!" Lilly groaned out drooling all over the place.

"I've never had it," Tod piped up.

"You've never had Chinese?" I asked in horror. I pulled the kid into a hug and cried for him dramatically. "I will introduce you to the wonder of Chinese food!"

Tod chuckled at my theatrics and I turned to see a smiling Cal. Somehow watching these kids act like kids made it worth the while. It horrified me to say this but I had to thank Vlad for throwing me into this universe. I would hate to imagine what would have happened to them if I weren't here.

"We've got to save some for Claire ok," I said smiling.

They nodded excitedly as I moved to the kitchen and shuffled through the plates. They sat on the bench, practically jumping up and down as they looked intently at the food. It hadn't occurred to me that these kids didn't have a stable diet. They probably went dumpster diving or had some rare nice stranger give them some food once in a while. It made my heart clench a little in distaste. When I handed them the rice they gobbled it down like there was no tomorrow. I looked at the rest of it and there was only enough for me and Claire so there was enough.

"Seconds!" Lilly and Tod exclaimed as they held out their empty plates.

I laughed a little as I wiped off the rice on their faces. I took out my serving and handed it to them. They needed it more than I did. While the younger ones were eating I noticed that Cal was taking it slow. He ate but he was looking at me with calculating eyes. He probably noticed that I didn't eat my portion but he didn't make a move to point it out so I said nothing.

"That was amazing! Do you have more?" Lilly asked again.

"More!" Tod piped up.

"You'll get sick if you eat anymore and plus we need to leave the doctor some," I laughed as I put away the food and got a lot of whines.

Cal handed me his bowel and I was about to put it in the wash when I noticed half of it was still there. I shot him a look.

"It's not nice to leave food," I chastised.

"It's for you," he said surprising me. "You didn't eat," he pointed out.

"I ate before I came by," I lied and his stomach growled just in time. "Plus you sound like you need it more."

He blushed but accepted the bowl back. Man these kids were full of surprises. That was such a nice thing to do. He could have just ate it all himself but he noticed and that made all the difference. The door opened revealing a very tired looking Claire. I took out a bowl for her and handed it to her when she sat down.

"Are you sure you should be using whatever money you have on Chinese?" she asked.

"Well not really but since I got a job-"

"-Already?!" she asked in surprise. The unemployment rates here must have been real bad if that was the reaction you got when you got a job.

"Yeah I really lucked out with this one. The pay's not amazing but the boss is nice and it'll get us by. I think I'll get us an apartment down by Lawson street. Heard the prices there were good- or bad depending on how you look at it."

She looked impressed. Heck _I_ was impressed. I never even had a job before (other than inventing really amazing mind-blowing tech) and the first time I get one is to provide for _others._ Who wouldn't be impressed? Sometimes I could be amazing. What, that isn't arrogance that's the truth.

"But there's no rest for the weary. I've got a pet project I need to start on," I said moving towards the door.

"At this time of night? Are you going to go fight crime?" she asked with clear disapproval.

"I want to punch some bad guys with you!" Lilly exclaimed.

"What no! There are no ghosts around. This- this is more like a science project I want to start on," I assured. "You know cause my parents are scientists and engineers and I have to do some super-secret crap that'll probably backfire and create a supervillain."

"Ok… should I ask?"

"It's in the hero/villain handbook. It's like the clichéd origin story of origin stories. You never mess with scientific tech that's beyond you but I guess I've already gone through my quota so it should be fine. I probably just jinxed myself. I just jinxed myself didn't I?"

"Now you're just rambling," she mumbled.

"What are you going to make?" Cal asked.

"Oh just a cross-dimensional portal to the realm of the dead," I said casually.

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy but was it really that crazy? Maybe I needed to update my definition of normal. Then again these people were used to a plethora of spandex and armour clad super-heroes running around town saving their asses. Maybe they should update their definition of normal as well.

"It's ok. My parents already made one so it shouldn't be _so_ hard. I mean I've memorised the scaffold but some of the equipment is just tedious to make so I better get started."

"S' you're a science man?" Tod asked in the most adorable drawl.

I cooed a little as I ruffled his hair. "It's a _scientist_ Tod my boy, and yes, yes I am because I'm super smart," I said proudly.

Claire however didn't seem amused one bit. She frowned and crossed her arms in such a motherly fashion that I nearly chocked. Man it had only been like two days and I was already homesick. How much longer could I survive in this universe?

"I have no idea what I should tell you but I really don't think you should be going out this time of night," she said. "Then again I'm not your mother and all of you are going to move out by tomorrow so I really don't have a say."

"Don't be a worry-wart. I'm like seventeen years old. In like 9 months I'll be a legal adult."

"Y-you're seventeen?" she asked with a surprised expression.

I huffed in irritation. "How old did you think I was?"

"Fifteen maybe sixteen if you stretched it," she admitted. I gaped at her in indignation. Ok so maybe I was on the short side but I'd grown. I mean I reached mom's height so that should at least make me look somewhat mature… all things considered mom _was_ a bit on the shorter side to. Oh god this was embarrassing. The kids started snickering at my expense and much to my chagrin even Caleb decided to join.

"Har, har, laugh it up. You know I can still carry all three of you. How about it? I did promise I would take you out for a celebratory flight once I got a job," I offered before turning to Claire. "Tod and Cal will be fine right?"

"Just be careful with Tod," she said nodding her approval. It probably had something to do with the fact that she was happy I was distracted from doing other activities I had originally planned.

I knelt down picking Tod up with the other two climbed up onto my back. It was a little awkward but I didn't feel weighed down at all. I'd picked up a bus without a sweat after all. I laughed a little as the kids practically seemed to be exuding childish glee from their pores. By Clockwork they were precious.

"You guys ready?"

I didn't really wait for them before I turned intangible and phased through the apartment. I shot up into the sky and I felt their grips tighten a little. It did feel quite awkward and restricting when there were three of them clinging to me like baby monkeys but right now it didn't matter. These kids had just gone through a shit tonne of crap and if I could make their day a little better than I would. I didn't stop until I reached up above the clouds. The soft gasps and wide eyed wonderment was enough to answer my question. They _loved_ it.

Of course the first time I taken someone for a joy-fly was Tucker. You guys were expecting me to say Sam right? Well sorry to burst your romantic bubble but it was Tucker. At that time I didn't like the idea of being used as a vehicle but Tucker had nagged me for days on end and I finally caved. My reluctance had changed when I saw the amazement in his eyes. No amount of saving people, defeating the bad guys, and posing for a camera could get an expression like that.

Of course the sight was beautiful. The endless expanse of the night sky, the vibrating dull light of the moon, and the cool chill of the sky wind… it was enough to make you pause and look in awe. When the clouds broke the view of the twinkling lights of the city below it felt like an entirely different world. There was no crime, no grime and tousle of the city, there was only us. Tod started touching the clouds, his breathing a little heavy because of the lack of oxygen.

"It's beautiful," Lilly said breaking the silence. "And hard to breath," she added causing me to chuckle.

"You'll survive, although staying up here for too long can be damaging on the long run. So let's stay for another minute before we leave ok," I said. The kids nodded in approval. Usually I would offer the exhilarating adrenaline hyped ride afterwards but Tod and Cal were injured and three people at once was a little too much.

Once the time was up I took the grumbling children back to Claire's. They greedily wanted more and I had to promise to take them out individually to stop them from pulling my hair out and turning me bald. Claire was sitting on the couch sipping her tea as she turned around with an irritated look.

"You're never going to ring the bell are you?" she grumbled.

"Not unless I want to get bulled by Ember, Skulker or worse Young Blood," I replied not really caring that she didn't know who I was talking about. I would never live it down with another ghost, ever, if I didn't just phase through objects instead of opening them.

"Who're they?" Cal asked.

"Just some ghostly foes," I replied. "You know like my super-villain possie, rogues gallery or whatever. Not that I have an Arkham or anything so they just keep coming back."

"Arkham?" Cal asked in confusion.

"Dammit, I keep forgetting you guys don't have DC comics here," I groaned. That was actually kind of depressing. I mean they wouldn't have been able to watch Nolan's Dark Knight or Suicide Squad. Man that was a depressing thought. Then again maybe there was another universe where the Avengers were comics too. I shrugged that thought out just as quickly. What a stupid idea that was. These were all real people after all.

The kids yawned and I smirked a little. A little bit of oxygen deprivation and anyone would want to go to bed. Classic parenting technique… well actually scratch that of the list. Never do that to your children intentionally. That would be abuse.

"Of to bed-" I said before I looked at Claire and realised I would be kicking her out of her own bed again. She shooed me of and I nodded gratefully to her. Whether or not the kids said it they sure expressed quietly enough how much they appreciated actually having a bed to sleep on. I made sure they went to sleep first.

"I don't wanna go to sleep," Tod whined.

"Don't be such a baby Tod," Lilly chastised.

I pulled the blanket over the kids and smiled. What was it that mom and dad did for me to get me to ease up before? Oh right, they used to check underneath my bed and in the cupboards if there were any ghosts. I used to wait for the all-clear before I even thought of going to sleep. Of course that was when I was six.

"Do you want Mr Phantom to check for ghosts?" I asked curiously.

"Ghosts don't exist!" Lilly exclaimed pointing an accusatory finger at me.

"Hey, hey," I said getting a little defensive, "I'm a ghost and I'm here."

"If ghosts are like you then what's there to be afraid of?" Cal asked catching me of guard.

I genuine smile crossed my face. It felt nice to know that someone thought of us that way. Even if I was considered a hero back home there was a lot of derogatory terms thrown out to my kind. Of course they used to apologise and keep assuring me that I was human afterwards. They were wrong. I wasn't _completely_ human no matter how much I acted like it. Half of me was still a ghost and it was that half of me that no one really liked… but also appreciated? By Clockwork my existence was confusing. It was just nice to have someone like me for my entirety alright.

I pushed the covers underneath them making sure they were cosy. They were looking at me like I was some sort of god for doing that. Well that was a look that I was entirely too used to. At least it wasn't just because I defeated Pariah Dark or something.

"Sleep tight guys," I whispered as I turned off the lights. Their arms protectively wrapped around Tod's small frame when the room darkened. It was a touching gesture for such small kids. They really were protective of each other. It reminded me of how Jazz used to draw her arms around my shoulder when Dash was around or when I would push her away when someone tried flirting with her.

"Are you alright?"

My attention snapped to see the concerned doctor. I nodded hastily unsure of how to put my raging emotions into words. I was never good at emotions anyway. Why wasn't there just an off switch for it?

"I-I… well it's nothing. I was just thinking," I said brushing it off. "So how did you like the fried rice?"

"I prefer Indian," she replied smirking.

"Oh that's how you're playing it," I replied.

"Yup," she said popping the 'p'. She chucked a pillow at me and I caught it with one hand easily. "Now you go to sleep. I'll take the floor."

"Oh no you aren't," I grumbled, "you're taking the couch and I'm taking the floor. Don't think I didn't notice the amount of times you've been cracking your back today."

It took a lot of not budging my body to get Claire to give up and sleep on the couch. I slept on the carpet, my body sprawled on the ground looking up to the unmoving fan on the ceiling. If it weren't for the crisp winter air the reverberated throughout the city I was sure my healing would have taken much longer. I needed to create a ghost portal soon. What if I had a major injury and I didn't have any source of purified ectoplasm around to save my ass? But if I had a ghost portal in the first place I could just go to Clockwork or track down Wulf and get my ass back into the right dimension… I'd take the kids of course. I practically adopted them after all.

They'd love it back at home. Mom and dad are practically drowning in money. I could pull a few strings, give them my darn best puppy-dog eyes and move them in with us. They wouldn't have to worry about living on the streets, they could go to school and be like normal children, and best of all they'd get to live with a world renowned superhero. That would be awesome! My thoughts trailed to a fantasy world where everything was ok, where Tod wasn't shot, where Lilly didn't glance outside with a haunted expression, where Caleb wasn't raped and where we were all just a big happy family. It seemed a good way to close the night and so I slept.

* * *

It had been a whole week since I came to this god-forsaken place. A whole week! I was really beginning to miss Sam and Tucker's antiques and not to mention my family. This was not at all like losing them though. I just needed to get the ghost portal up and running which seemed like a far-away dream right now. I'd started optimistic and created a portable ecto-filter but that could only rip a small hole into the GZ and bring me some ectoplasmic liquid which would help any injuries I came across. It was a good enough start for now. With this I would have a base to power all of the usual Fenton Tech equipment my family makes.

"Danny~ we're hungry!" Lilly whined.

I grumbled in irritation. Why couldn't they just make themselves some two minute noodles or something? Why did they always have to insist on me cooking? It wasn't like I was an amazing chef in the first place. That was Jazz's job. I was just the back-up cook if she wasn't able to cook. No way though was I letting my parents _or_ a bunch of kids try to use this horrible kitchen. I nearly exploded something and that's all good because I have super awesome regenerative abilities that none of them possessed.

"Don't touch that," I growled not looking at her.

Her hands pulled away from the vial of green ectoplasm and a sheepish grin crossed her large white teeth. Gosh she was such a handful. Was I like that when I was a kid? No wonder mom and dad didn't let me down at the basement without supervision and the one time I managed to do just that I literally get myself _killed_. I was not about to let Lilly get ectoplasmic radiation poisoning.

"What ya' making?" she asked leaning over my shoulder.

"It's a Fenton hover board! Once I get myself a real identity and patent this baby, we'll be rich!"

"Hover board? As in that thing from back to the future?"

I nearly kissed Lilly then and there. "Finally a movie that this universe has!" I exclaimed in relief. It was horrifying to realise that DC didn't exist here. All my Batman references were going to waste! Thank Clockwork that they at least had the Star Wars and Disney Franchise running or I would have thought I was sent to the demon realm.

"Are you really from another universe?" Cal asked as he walked in with Tod in his arms. Out of the three of them he was having trouble believing I was a half-ghost superhero from another universe the most. "And also can we have food cause Tod's been crying for an hour?"

"Sheesh kids, how did you survive out in the streets if you whined so much?"

I sigh and put down my project before shooing the kids out and into the kitchen area. The apartment was small but I told them the importance that one room was specifically meant for my projects. They didn't protest when I told them it was to build a portal to my world where I was rich. What orphaned kid didn't want to be whisked away by a rich daddy? Ugh- that would have sounded so wrong if I said it out loud and I was in no way a dad- maybe an older brother or something but not a dad.

I gingerly put on an apron and started cooking food. In all honesty I was a superhero! I should be out patrolling the streets and keeping people safe. NOT sitting here cooking food and baby-sitting children. Although a guilty part of me protested that someone else was already running around in spandex doing it. Yup that was you're friendly neighbourhood Spider-boy, Spider-ling? Well he sure was a Spider-something with that whole arachnid gig. He even had the wall crawling, web shooting thing going on. What really surprised me was how short he was in real life. He was about my height. He wasn't as short as me- ugh why am I so short?- but he definitely wasn't at the height or build that considered him an adult.

"Can we have pasta again?" Lilly asked.

"Pipe down Lil'," Cal chastised, "we'll just have whatever he makes us."

I frowned a little. Despite Lilly being a nagging twit at times at least she felt comfortable enough to yell things at me like an annoying little sister. Cal was always so closed up and distant. He only ever opened up or hugged me when I helped him go to sleep at night after some bad nightmares. In the morning he seemed to be trying to walk around me like I was made out of glass or something. What would Jazz have diagnosed? Abandonment issues maybe? Did he feel like I was going to leave them?

"It's ok. I'll cook some pasta but tomorrow you guys are eating all greens ok. You're still malnourished and I won't have anyone under my watch getting sick from something like that."

The kids didn't complain or whine like other kids normally would. They always seemed to lean in and take all the mummying I gave them like sponge to water. It was a little disheartening knowing that they lacked that much attention that they would resort to getting it from a kid barely older than them. I wasn't about to let them down though. I'd just finished work and although the budget was tight I made sure to buy some more food and comfier beds. Cal was the only one who noticed that I wasn't giving myself the same special treatment.

"Look can you guys go watch some tellie or something," I said catching them off-guard. I put the flames on low and put the sauce to simmer. I was hearing cries of distress outside and I wasn't about to let someone get hurt or worse just because I was afraid my food would burn.

"What's wrong?" Tod asked adorably.

"Some meanie's out there hurtin' somebody real good," I told him cooing a little at his adorableness. "I'll be back in a sec."

I transformed, flying out of the building and towards the struggling victim. A man was cornering her, muffling her screams as she thrashed underneath his grip. He was ripping at her clothes.

"You're a sweet little thing. Let me hear you cry for me!" he harshly whispered while holding her down and covering her mouth.

My blood boiled in rage. He was about to _rape_ her. I had always loathed that word but now it made me furious. The image of a shivering and crying Caleb entered my mind and it was enough to turn me mental. Blinding rage powered my actions as I grabbed his shirt and flung him into the wall behind him. I didn't care at that moment that he could have hit his head and died, or that he could have broken his back and never be able to walk again. I just didn't care. It actually annoyed me a little when he grunted in pain and got up before running away. I was about to wail on the man when two bundles of web hit him and pinned him to the wall. Spiderman hung down from the rooftop upside down inspecting my face up close. I stepped back a little, slightly unnerved that we nearly kissed from the closeness.

"What were you stung by a radioactive jelly-fish or something?" he asked.

I blinked in shock. Radioactive jellyfish? That was definitely a new origin theory. When ghosts weren't well known back in Amity they thought we were all just humans who were affected from radiation somehow.

"No actually I'm a ghost- as in the dead," I said before moving to the scared lady. I helped her up. "You ok ma'am? That was a stupid question. Don't answer that. I-I'll just call the police," I grumbled fumbling around the shivering woman.

"No need, you're friendly neighbourhood Spiderman's already got that covered," he said waving around his ancient Nokia.

"Nokia, really?" I asked.

"Hey, it's _indestructible_. Plus here's a guy who swings around a city and falls all over the place. I needed something that wouldn't break," he protested.

"Fair enough," I relented as the cops swung by. "How about you come over and we eat some pasta or something?"

He looked shocked at the suggestion, if his large whites were an indication for his emotion. It was hard to tell when you could only use his eyes and tone of voice to tell what he was feeling. I flew up and he swung to the roof-top.

"Y-You're just inviting me, just like that? Is this a trick? Are you secretly trying to lure me into a trap or something because been there and done that," he said suspiciously. "Plus if you really are a ghost why would you need to eat… unless you're going to devour my soul because I really like my soul where it is."

I looked at him in amusement. "You really are as talkative as they say. Ghosts don't eat souls by the way. We feed from our obsessions and at most that entails mooching off of your emotions but I usually get my kicks from protecting."

"So- you're like a guardian spirit? Can I hire you? Do you grant wishes?" he asked.

I blinked. Wow this guy _really_ liked talking and throwing around wild guesses. Were spiders in this universe meant to be super curious speds or something?

"Hey, hey, hey, stop with the questions. It's not like I asked you if you eat the innards of human beings just because you're spider themed," I grumbled, "and no I can't grant wishes unless your wish is pasta. That I can grant. Plus the kids would freak out if they saw you. You are their favourite hero," I said jealously.

"It's not every day I get to meet someone who isn't trying to kill me," he admitted a little shyly. Wait he was shy? By Clockwork this day was getting weird. Why was I inviting him over again? Oh right because Tod's expression would be so worth it. That kid was adorable beyond measure.

"My house is just over there," I said before grabbing his hands and jerking him of the roof-top. He exclaimed a 'hey' in surprise and I felt a little guilty when I didn't warn him I could go through walls because he was patting himself in all the wrong places checking if he was all there.

"Give a Spider a warning!"

"Sorry, sometimes I forget that other heroes can't phase through solid objects," I lied. Ok that was a little bit of pay-back but it was only because the kids practically worshipped him. I was the coolest superhero dammit!

"Danny, the food's burn-" Lilly cried before she noticed Spiderman and her jaw dropped. "Spiderman!"

"Where, where!" Tod exclaimed as he ran into the room followed by Cal. Both kids stared wide eyed in shock as they came face to face with their favourite hero in their house!

"You take care of kids?" Spiderman asked in shock.

"Yup, they're a handful hence why I brought you here as distraction. Take care of them while I go get the food."

"Hey!" he cried as the kids crowded him. I chuckled a little as I left Spiderman to take care of the dirty work. He was probably being bombarded with questions right now. That definitely gave me enough time to get the food plated. I scraped the burnt bits into my plate. I couldn't feed the guests or the children that.

Spiderman walked into the room carrying Tod on his back and Lilly in his arms. He looked extremely awkward while doing so. How he managed to look awkward with a mask on eluded me. He kind of reminded me of myself before my ego was inflated by my adoring fans. I always used to slouch the same way, looking a little goofy and out of place wherever I went.

"Tod, Lilly stop bothering Spider-boy over there and come eat dinner," I ordered.

"Aww but-"

"No buts Lilly," I said with an authoritative tone. Spiderman dropped his shoulders and let the kids down. Lilly, Tod and Cal took their plates and sat on the old table I had found outside. I handed Spiderman his plate before sitting at the kitchen bench alongside him.

"So you're a mother?" he laughed.

I blushed a little before groaning. "I can't refute that. Yes I do take care of those kids. Someone has to."

"How do you do it?" he asked curiously. His mask was pulled up a little revealing his pale skin underneath. He had a mouthful of pasta when he spoke making it a muffled mess.

"I guess it's not really that much of a secret when it comes to someone like you. I have another identity. I work part-time so I can provide for them," I answered taking a spoonful of my burnt pasta sauce.

"Daredevil mentioned you," Spiderman said absentmindedly. "He said you came to save _a specific_ kid so I should watch out for your intentions but I know now. You're a true hero."

I blinked at him in surprise. Wow, that was actually really awesome coming from a kid who was probably still going to school, running around every night in spandex and fighting crime. If anything he was way more qualified in this world to be called a hero. To him I was just a guy who happened to know someone who needed saving. It's not like he knew of the sacrifices I'd made during my early years.

"Shouldn't you- I don't know… be of doing homework?" I asked shocking him.

"H-How did-how did you know?" he asked flailing his arms a little in panic.

"Dude I know the sound of a teenaged voice. _I_ have a teenage voice. Plus you look around my height (you're wearing a school bag) so you're definitely young. Mind you I'm pretty short for my age. So fess up, how old are you?"

"Ok, ok," he said putting his hands up in surrender, "I'm nearly seventeen alright and I'm way taller than you. I don't need someone else lecturing me about my age and give me all that 'you're too young to be out risking your life' crap."

"Wow, no need to be defensive. I started fighting ghosts and saving the world when I was fourteen years old so I'm not one to judge."

"So-so you're like my age?" he asked with such a hopeful voice that I began to wonder if this kid was a loner.

"Yup, I'm seventeen too."

"And you're taking care of three kids by yourself," he said looking at the laughing children. "Why?"

"They were out on the streets. If I didn't save them they would have been slaves in some foreign country by now. I couldn't just chuck them back out afterwards," I sighed before a small smile crossed my face. "Plus I've grown attached."

We ate in comfortable silence until the kids seemed to gulp down their food so they could pester Spiderman some more. I laughed a little at how well the arachnid did with kids. But they were still mine… was I jealous? Danny Phantom did not just get jealous of another superhero! I am not jealous!

"Tod, Lilly, stop crowding around bug-boy-"

"Spiders are arachnids!" he protested.

"- _Bug_ -boy, needs to go protect innocent civilians and whatnot. Whatever it is you spiders do every night other than spin webs out of your buts," I laughed.

"It's from their spinneret glands not their butts and mine are custom made," he grumbled.

Well _darn_ \- that was actually impressive. He actually managed to make a device that could make web like substances that were incredibly durable. Either this was one smart teenager or he had some sort of friend in higher places that helped. I whistled in appreciation.

"We need to chat about how exactly you created the properties so it would dissolve," I said earning his attention.

"You like science!"

"Yes," I said smiling. Ok maybe it was this guy who created those webs. Colour me impressed. There wasn't much that could impress me, at least not when you had a portal that ripped through space and time in your basement. "And we can talk about it sometime later. It's time for the kids to go to bed."

"Aww," Cal groaned. If that kid was complaining then maybe he really did want to stay awake. Cal never complained.

"Here's my number. Shoot me a call whenever you're in trouble," I said writing down my number and handing it to him.

"What-what about your secret identity and all that jazz?"

"You're a hero. I've given up hiding who I am to my allies a long time ago," I said truthfully. "But you don't have to tell me yours if you don't want to.

"Thanks," he said with sincerity. "It's not every day you make an ally. Usually I just end up making more enemies."

I nodded in understanding. It meant the world to me when through my adventures I met Princess Dora, Frostbite, and Wulf. If it weren't for making the occasional friend my enemies would have no doubt weighed me down. Cal, Tod and Lilly groaned when Spiderman jumped out of the window.

"Aww, why did he have to leave?" Lilly whined.

"Lilly, when you have that sort of power-" I began before realising that I was talking to a twelve year old kid. "-Well let's just say that he has a lot of important work to do. Now you kids are going off to bed. It's already 11 and I have an early day tomorrow at work. Plus I haven't finished the Fenton ecto-purifier modifications-"

"You're rambling again," Tod chuckled.

I picked up the six year old and laughed a little. He always knew when to make me shut up. Being super adorable needed to be put on the official list of superpowers. Kids could make you do a lot of things with their power of coercion and puppy-dog eyes after all. It was mind control I tell you! Mind control!

"Well you're still going to bed," I told the others and they groaned.

* * *

It was honestly such a struggle trying not to go out and punch some bad guys in the face. There were zero ghosts in this universe and it was really beginning to take a toll on my obsession. But humans were different to ghosts. Ghosts had one single goal in mind, and while that varied, it was hard to hate them because they actually could not physically go against their obsessions. Humans on the other hand were different. Humans had the choice to back off and live decent lives. They had the choice to carry out good and bad deeds. When they chose to abuse that free will it was infuriating. It made me mad beyond expression. I especially hated rapists.

Much to my frustration I donned on a plain mask these days when I went out as Phantom. A few people had tried to take pictures and since Danny Fenton was also pretty shady, the connection between Phantom and Fenton were blurry. This wasn't my planet where people weren't used to the idea of superheroes. There were probably a whole bunch of organisations running around trying to figure out secret identities. Heck- the idea of having secret identities was _optional_ here. I'd just recently watched Tony Stark's coming out video and it really surprised me. Sure he was a billionaire and by extension somewhat untouchable but he practically just advertised a target on his head.

"Look Danny, you're on the tellie!" Lilly exclaimed as she put the volume up.

*Hero or Vigilante? The spectral like boy has been sighted as Hell's Kitchens new protector. While sightings of him are scares he is being compared to other minor heroes such as Daredevil and the team known as the Defenders. The press has taken to calling him Phantom-*

"Spidey really did his job with the whole publicising thing. At least it wasn't something like Invis-o-Bill," I commented. Thankfully Spiderman happened to have a job at the Bugle and that meant he put in a word for my name.

"Invis-o-Bill?" Cal asked snickering.

"Yeah I was considered a menace for a year or so when I first started out. The cops wouldn't stop shooting at me but it was pointless because I just turned intangible when they yelled that name out. It was nice of them to warn me that they were going to shoot."

"They shot you?" Tod squeaked.

Oh right I forgot the little one had a fear of guns now. It wasn't his fault. Any kid would be eternally traumatised once they'd been shot. Although there weren't a lot of kids his age that could claim they'd nearly died from a gun wound.

"Tod my boy, you need to hear this man. Never be ashamed of your scars ok. Ladies dig the scars," I said poking his healed stomach.

He giggled and pushed my hands away. "I don't want girls! They have coodies."

"We do not!" Lilly protested.

"You don't but the others do!" Tod drawled in his cute spitty voice. He'd just lost a tooth so he sounded extra adorable when he spoke.

"They do not!"

"Ok, kids break it up," I said holding their heads apart and stopping them from brawling. "I'm going to go to work and I need to know you kids can hold the fort. By that I mean you don't ever try to use the kitchen again."

Cal looked a little sheepish as he scratched the back of his head. The last time he tried, and don't get me wrong it was a nice gesture, there was a large dent in the wall. I had to pay like another 100 dollars to the owner and he was not happy. That put a whole days' worth of pay down the drain and our budget was tight enough.

My phone rang surprising me. Who called me these days other than Claire? She was nice enough to drop by with some food once in a while. That really helped me save whatever money I could. This number was different. It wasn't one I had saved either.

*Phantom, I need help!*

"Spidey?" I asked in surprise. "What's wrong?"

*OsCorp! They're onto me. They-*

"Spidey- Spiderman! Dammit," I grumbled as the phone cut. It sounded like he was fighting someone. I turned to the fearful and suddenly silent looks from the kids and I felt a familiar anxiety. It felt like that time when Vlad had Dani and nearly melted her into a pile of goo.

"Do you have to go?" Tod asked quietly, "to do dangerous stuff"

"Yeah, sorry about that kiddo. Your friendly neighbourhood Spider-ling needs my help. I'm just gonna kick some baddies and come back ok," I said hastily, my voice barely betraying the underlying fear. What had he gotten himself into?

He better be safe.

* * *

 **Not going to lie I did this cliff-hanger on purpose. Sorry guys. This story was way more slower than I originally thought and I promise it really does get interesting when the whole Spiderman arc goes down. Please review! Oh my god I really want someone who knows how to write to really criticize this work because everyone comments on the story (which is important) but I really want to know your thoughts on how to improve my syntax structure, grammar and all that technical gizz! Love all of you guys for reviewing, favouriting, and commenting! Also if I make characters Mary-sues or the work too angsty please feel free to rage at me and flame me for doing so because I deserve it. Also I realised Spiderman is actually spelt spider-man. God that's embarrassing.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **I had a long exam period so pardon the late update. It was my trial HSC so yeah my final exam before the whole state exam thing and then it's onto uni. Thanks so much for the follows. I was shocked to see like 70 follows. I really wasn't expecting that. So yeah I made this chapter extra-long just for the wait.**

* * *

I flew to work before transforming and knocking on the Greg's door. The old man walked out with his spectacles out and his smile disappeared when he saw my worried expression.

"What's wrong son?"

"M-my friend. He's in trouble and he said something about OSCORP. Do you know what that is?" I asked hastily.

"OsCorp isn't a thing Danny. OsCorp is a leading multi-billion dollar company on technology, genetics, and chemicals. Why would your friend be in trouble with them?"

"I don't know," I lied. I hated lying. "Maybe it's not them. Maybe it's just connected but I know he doesn't call often and when he does it's probably serious. Sorry Mr O'Neil, I'll work extra hard once I find him."

"I'll take the kids somewhere to eat. Don't worry about them," he called out as I left.

I shot the man an appreciative smile. Man I was lucky to have such an amazing boss. Then again Greg was a lonely guy and he probably only kept me around because he sees his real son in me. Should I be offended that he sees someone who leaves loved ones behind in me… actually maybe he's right. Then again it wasn't my choice to be stuck in a different universe.

I turned into Phantom and took out my phone before searching up the address. The signal must've been bad because it was lagging like crazy. If this was back on my world I would have just used my own goddamn satellite. Yes I had my own satellite. How else was I meant to communicate with higher ups every time I was needed for a natural disaster or a ghostly threat overseas? I had a lot of toys too. Now I was forced to think of a way to find the arachno-boy before his identity is revealed. Clockwork knows how dangerous that is for people like us.

I flew into OsCorp without worry. There were perks to being in an entirely different universe. These people didn't know about ghosts yet and hence there was no convoluted worry about there suddenly being a ghost shield or some deadly containment device. All I had to do was speed around intangible and invisible and no one would know about me. So far all I was seeing was normal people doing pretty interesting science-projects. Nothing like the torture chamber with Spiderman unmasked like I had in mind.

"I can't believe you actually came"

I perked up at the familiar voice. It sounded like the coarse voice from the ninja-dude down at the docks. What was his name again- Daredevil or something. I'd read up on his activities and was thoroughly impressed at the number of people he had brutalised and sent to the police. He made sure they wouldn't walk properly afterwards but safety precautions right?

"Aww but the itty-bitty Spidey needs our help. Mr Prematurely-Born wanted to cut him open and I hate it when people are cut open," a second voice came. It sounded playful, whiny and lunatic all at the same time. I dropped up behind them and turned visible nearly frightening both men out of their senses.

"Should I kill him?" the man in red and black whined.

"No!" Daredevil growled holding back the other man's hand before he turned to me. "Phantom… I didn't hear you."

"That's because I'm as silent as a _ghost_ ," I replied easily before turning to look at his partner. "Who's your friend?"

"I'm the Merc with the Mouth, the Scarlet Talkster, the guy who kicks ass and gets booty-"

"Ok, ok, sheesh man I just wanted a name."

"He's Deadpool, Mercenary for hire," Daredevil grunted.

"Aww you take the fun out of it," Deadpool whined before he turned to me. "So who died kid? Give it to me. I want the origin story now."

I chuckled. Yes the classic origin story where your parents are murdered or you're abused and snap, or where you fall into some chemical or biological disaster that turns you crazy before you realise the error of your ways. But it always came back to the dead parents gig. Batman is exemplary.

"Actually _I_ died. Take that for a twist huh, but that's not what we're here for. Do you know where the Spider-boy is?"

" _You_ died, oh god that's fucking hilarious," Deadpool laughed.

I grimaced but soon decided that why the heck not? It was pretty hilarious in its own dark humour-y way. Thankfully Daredevil noticed my uncomfortable expression or he decided to move onto the matter at hand and he got us back on track.

"We know he's being held underground somewhere here according to Deadpool. What do you know?"

"He just called me and was pretty hysterical too so I thought I should check up on his ass," I replied with a frown. "But it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'll just swoop in, save his ass, swoop back out and no one will know what happened. I am a ghost after all."

I was about to fly out of the corner and into the hallway when Daredevil caught my shoulder and pulled me back.

"You can't just do that," he growled 'unusually' angrily.

"Why the heck not? I can turn intangible, invisible and fly around. I'm like the perfect spy," I pointed out.

"Because my little spider had his mask removed and we need to erase information on that too. If you just swoop in the whole place will be alerted, and also the author thinks it's too easy. She wants something thrilling," Deadpool explained although I really didn't understand what he meant by the author. Was she directing his actions or something? Like an out of sight side-kick or informer?

"Can you possess someone?" Daredevil asked suddenly.

"P-possess… I mean yeah but it's kind of gross and- and it's their body and all that jazz. I-I don't really do that anymore," I fumbled unsure of how to word it. Ghosts never possessed often. It had negative effects to their core if they did- namely syncing with another person's mind and gaining certain attributes for a certain amount of time. Not to mention dealing with Freakshow gave me nightmares for a week. Paranoia had become a constant friend of mine afterwards and I didn't want another overshadow victim to be on my conscious.

"They're probably pulling the kid apart in there. We have no time for moral questions," Daredevil snapped.

I gulped and nodded. The idea of experimentation wasn't new to me. Vlad tried, the GIW tried, heck even my parents tried at one stage, although that was before they figured out my identity. I'd been strapped to a table at one point and I remembered the fear that had overcome me at that moment. If Dani and Wulf hadn't bailed me out in time the Y laceration could have actually been pulled open.

"Who do I need to overshadow?" I finally ask.

"Oo, how about that hot chick over there," Deadpool pointed. I looked over and there was a rather beautiful blond women with nice breasts. "Me and you can have some time-out later," he said rather suggestively.

A shiver went down my spine and I nearly blanched. Did that guy really want to fuck a woman who was overshadowed by me? By Clockwork that was sick on so many levels. I gave him a well-deserved hit on the head.

"That's disgusting man and not to mention rape. Do you have any _real_ suggestions?" I growled, mostly looking at Daredevil for an answer.

"I was being serious~" Deadpool whined in an overly childish voice. "She has a card key to go down."

I shoot the lady a glance before cringing. Ok I was way more comfortable taking over someone who was a guy. It was mostly because I felt like that would be somewhat like mind raping somebody and I really didn't like the idea of any sort of rape.

"It's the best idea so far," Daredevil agreed. Damn that bastard for siding with him.

"Ok I'll do it as long as you," I said pointing an accusatory finger at Deadpool, "do not attempt to touch this lady in any inappropriate way, shape or form."

He held his hands up in mock surrender. "I promise," he squeaked although it was obvious he had his fingers crossed. I groaned as I turned invisible. I hope that mom and dad will forgive what I am about to do. I flew into the lady and took over her unsuspecting mind and she instantly fell under my will.

It was an odd feeling controlling someone else's body. The length of stride, the way you walked, the perspective in which you saw… it was entirely different. Of course when a ghost inhabited someone else's body they also took some of their inherent characteristics. It was one of the reasons why ghosts tended to stay out of the possession game. If you did it too much you're whole core could go out of whack absorbing other people's personalities and such. Of course for me that was often times far more important than for other ghosts. I couldn't falter in my moral standing. I couldn't just possess every criminal I meet to fight against others because I would be taking a part of them as they would be me.

I glanced over inconspicuously towards where the other two were. I dropped my pen and 'accidently' rolled it their way before bending over and holding out my hand. Daredevil took it without questioning why and Deadpool followed. I turned them invisible as I walked to the door and swiped the card-key.

The elevator was surprisingly normal as I went down. There was even the customary elevator music that sounded like absolute shit but was still better than glaring silence.

"You sure you don't want to work for me babe?" Deadpool asked.

"I swear Deadpool if you touch this girl I will strip you naked in public," I growled. Death threats were not my thing considering I didn't kill for no good reason but there were a lot worse things than killing. Public humiliation was high up on the list and Deadpool was really testing my patience.

"Oh I don't mean the lady, I mean _you_. Imagine this; Ghosty and Deadpool working together chopping of people's heads," he said dramatically. "You could be sooo useful in assassinations."

"I don't kill civilians," I replied heatedly earning a grunt of understanding from Daredevil.

"I don't get many offers to kill citizens actually most of the time it's-"

"Stop talking they'll find you suspicious," Daredevil shushed as the elevator door opened.

"Just don't let go of my hand unless you want to turn visible," I grumbled.

"Can do babe"

I nearly blanched again but I quickly steeled my expression when a scientist pushed up his glasses and looked at me curiously.

"Linda, didn't you just finish your shift?" he asked.

"Yes-um well I just wanted to check back up on my work," I said quickly, unsure of how to continue.

"I get it. Spiderman really is amazing. If we could recreate his DNA mutation into others then we could have a whole arsenal of super-powered humans. Think of what the army could do with them or the amount of lives we could save."

"Yes, yes, Spiderman," I said with distaste. "I have to see him again. Just to make sure what I was doing before was right."

"That's unusually proactive of you. Weren't you itching to go to lunch break just then?"

"When there's a perfect specimen to study?" I asked with real enthusiasm which made my internally cringe. I was already taking her enthusiasm for Spiderman myself. Man I hated overshadowing.

Thankfully he stopped asking questions and just took me deeper into the winding hallways until he swiped the keys and opened the door to a room. I walked in and had to hold back my rage when I saw Spiderman unmasked and groaning on a table, his arms held down by thick metal cuffs. Some sort of liquid seemed to be going in and out and samples of his blood was labelled in a fridge. I bit my/her lip and let go of Daredevil and Deadpool's hands the moment the other scientist left the room.

"N-no more," Spiderman drawled, his voice sounding heavily drugged and fearful.

"It's me Danny," I said although that probably wasn't reassuring considering I was in a scientists body that probably prodded him just before. "Let's get you out," I said fazing him out of the metal cuffs and drugs holding him down.

"We don't know how many files on him could actually be in here," Daredevil said gravely.

I handed Spiderman over to Deadpool and pushed Daredevil aside as I sat on the laptop. I pulled up the system and started working my magic… at least the magic Tucker taught me.

"I'm going to delete all the files they have on him… to the best of my abilities. You guys sneak him out cause this will probably alert them to my presence."

"Are you going to be alright kid?" Daredevil asked with actual concern.

"I've already died once. I'm pretty sure it'll take more than a couple of people with heavily armed guns and who knows what machines to take me down."

That probably did nothing to ease his worries but it was enough to get them to go. I sat down completely focused on the computer in front of me. I was nowhere near Tucker's level of skill but I'd learnt enough. He was a genius and I was his protégé after all. I'd give it a minute or so before they realised they were being hacked. If I was lucky I could pull out some other damaging information on their company and post it up but there were a lot of people working here. Good, honest, normal people who had families and a job that fed them. I couldn't just ruin it for them.

Moral dilemmas sucked.

I bit the woman's thumb out of frustration before I decided that I should just stick to deleting all of Spidey's files. I pulled them up quickly and frowned when I saw his name. It didn't feel right finding out this way but it would have been impossible _not_ to find out when it was there in bold print. Peter Parker, 17, a Queens kid with an impressive IQ. Well not anymore. I smirked as I started deleting the files and the experiments they did within the time frame they had him. Thankfully they hadn't gotten to the cutting him open stage.

The computer blared at me and now I knew the game was on. They caught me in the act of hacking. Thankfully I was close to the mainframe so this became easier for me. Their counters were pretty good and so were their firewalls and suddenly I started wishing Tucker was here. He'd be wrecking them to kingdom come way faster than I was. It took all of my and this women's brain combined to simultaneously hack into their systems, delete files, all the while trying to counter the counter.

"Put your hands up!" a guard yelled.

I sighed in relief knowing that I'd deleted all known files of Spiderman. I stood up and smirked. This scientist lady was going to get what was coming. She kind of did deserve it considering she experimented on Peter (even if it was just taking blood samples). I turned invisible before flying out of her body and through the walls. I flew outside suddenly regretting not asking where I should have met up with them.

I was about to fly back home when I saw Pe-err-Spiderman was in the hands of Daredevil and Deadpool and they both seemed pretty capable. I felt a hand grab my shoulder and yank me into a roof. I grumbled in distaste when I noticed it was Deadpool.

"Hold up Jason Bourne, where're you going?"

"Home," I grumbled rubbing my head. "I just had to overshadow somebody. You know how much that messes with my head? Ok- you probably don't but I still need to go home and read through my mantra a few hundred times."

"Aww but we have nowhere to put Spidey," he whined.

Daredevil walked in carrying an out of daze Spiderman in his arms. I snickered. Oh I was so going to tell him he was held bridal style after this. That had got to be like every heroes worst nightmare.

"I don't know, aren't you two meant to be grown adults? Shouldn't you have like an apartment or a bat-cave?" I ask.

"Making real life references is my job?" Deadpool whined catching me off guard.

"I've got someone over and they don't know my off-duty activities and Deadpool is a mercenary. I can't risk him selling Spiderman to the highest bidder if someone realises he has him," Daredevil said giving a pointed look at the merc.

"Ok, ok I'll bring him over but if the kids find out that he's P- his identity then it's not on me," I grumbled taking Peter off of Daredevil.

"You have kids?" Deadpool asked cooing.

"They're not biologically mine," I snapped in embarrassment. I phased out of his coddling solely because he creeped me out. I didn't know if he was joking or not half the time and I had a suspicious feeling other people were watching and finding him hilarious. Plus how did he know about Batman? Batman didn't exist in this universe. Before I could question him or his sanity he waved a goodbye and jumped of the building.

"I-is he ok?" I asked looking down and seeing his mangled form.

"I'm ok~" Deadpool replied getting up and cracking his bones into place before prancing of.

Daredevil must have noticed my completely speechless expression because he decided to give me an explanation.

"He can't die."

"Oh," was my simply response. That guy was flippin crazy. "Well I gotta go. I'm late for work."

"Shouldn't you be at school?" he asked with a smirk.

"Pfft, school's for losers. I'm going to be rich without a degree," I grumbled picking up Spidey bridal style. I saluted a goodbye and flew off to my apartment. The kids were either going to be very happy or very worried. Either way I was going to have to give them a long talk about privacy and how no matter what they can't pull up his mask.

"Kids I'm home and don't freak out ok. Spider-boy's going to be needing your bed for a while," I called out.

"Spiderman!" Tod and Lilly exclaimed in wonder before their faces feel at his sleeping figure.

"Is he ok?" Cal asked.

"I'm gonna go on a whim and say he's physically fine… anything else I'm not too sure of. Now I want you kids to stay out of the room I'm putting him in ok. I mean it. You all have to promise me you won't go in and try to take a peek."

"We promise!" they exclaimed.

I nodded in approval as I put Peter on their mattress and flew it and him into my room. I closed the door before locking it and making sure there were no cameras or onlookers of any sort. I'd quickly read in the files what they had injected him with. It was a sort of virus they wanted to see if it could make him stronger.

"H-help… no," he mumbled as he twisted on the bed.

I sighed in frustration. What was I meant to do? It's not like I could actually help by giving him medicine. Viruses didn't really have many cures other than a simple wait out. The most I could do was make him comfortable. It was a good thing that I'd taken custody of him.

"Spiderman, it's me Phantom. I need you to calm down," I said with an assuring voice. Maybe I should call Claire? No- he wouldn't want more people to know his identity and I needed to check his eyes to see if they were responsive.

"It's me Danny… I know what happened. I know you're identity," I said causing him to twist a little more in panic.

"N-no don't t-"

"I won't tell anybody Peter, but I need you to know I'm taking of your mask. I need you to drink some water," I said gently helping up his shivering body and taking of his mask. It was sort of surreal seeing another hero my age. Usually I would be the one in these kinds of situations while Sam or Tucker patched me up. Now it was my turn to contribute and I wasn't about to let a fellow teen hero lose his privacy like I had lost mine. The number of times I had to stop assassinations on my family and friends were crazy and it really turned you paranoid. The only upside was infinite recognition and people kissing my feet.

"P-Phantom?" he asked looking a lot more awake then before.

"It's Danny. You can call me Danny," I said softly as I transformed into my human half. He visibly relaxed a lot more knowing that I had given him my secret identity as well. "I need you to drink this," I said handing him a cup of water.

He took it and greedily sipped at it. Who knows how thirsty he would have been or when he had last drunk any water. Even I forgot about food and drinking when I used to sneak out at night to fight ghosts.

"T-thanks," he said although his voice was rough. "I-I have to go my A-Aunt must be worried."

"I'm not letting you swing around with this fever," I snapped. "If you really need to go that much then I'm flying you there."

"Kid's I'm taking Spiderman out. I need you to watch the fort," I called out before I turned around and knelt down. Peter grudgingly got onto my back after I transformed.

"Can you even carry me?" he asked with a raised brow.

"That's almost insulting," I laughed, "last time I checked I could carry a bus full of children. Carrying your skinny ass will be laughingly easy."

He chuckled weakly as he hopped onto my back with his mask back on. I felt his hot shivering body meld into my cold one and it was incredibly uncomfortable. I hated heat but I felt real bad for him so I bit down my complaining to level 1.

"It's around there," he said pointing in the general direction. "D-did they find-"

"Yes they found out your identity," I sighed. "But I managed to destroy any evidence that it was you. Daredevil took care of the blood samples and regrettably I think Deadpool decided to destroy any of the suspects."

"Deadpool helped?" Peter asked in a shocked voice before he laughed.

"Why, is that guy you're arch nemesis?"

"Nah, it was just last time we met he tried to kill me. He was hired by the Kingpin."

"Oh- I guess that's an odd way of meeting," I mumbled. "So do you just want me to phase you into your room or like knock or something? Does your parents even know you're Spiderman?"

"M-my parents- well I live with my Aunt and she doesn't really know. So maybe we should like change? I don't know I'm meant to be at school right now."

"Well we can play the 'I'm sick' card considering you're actually sick," I pointed out before he pointed at his house. I walked into a corner before transforming into my human half. Peter hastily took off his Spiderman suit which really was just a homemade onesie. At least mine was a legit HAZMAT suit with a utility belt. It wasn't Batman worthy but it was protective material.

"So~" I began awkwardly pointing at the door.

"Yeah- yeah I'm onto it," he said through his jitters as he knocked on the door. I stayed just to make sure his aunt really was there and that he wasn't about to drop dead.

"A-Aunt May," he said a little gingerly as a rather hot looking aunt opened the door. I had to stop myself from whistling.

"Peter honey, are you alright? You look awful," she said with worry.

"I-I'm fine j-just sick," he replied.

"Well then, you're reunited, you've hugged, and there's a happy ending. Time for me to go," I said rather awkwardly.

"After you bought Peter all the way here from school. I think you deserve some tea," she said with a no-nonsense tone.

Older ladies were scary. That's the only reason I followed her in despite myself. I mean I was walking into Spiderman's house. The place of his origin story- maybe. This was definitely the first time another hero invited me in. Well technically he didn't invite me his aunt did but that's just specifics. It looked oddly normal. There were no pictures of spiders or a basement full of tech, no zany characters. It was just a _normal_ house. Even my house was on the abnormal side.

I sat on a proper not downtrodden couch for the first time in a week. It felt nice not to worry about some sort of bug being right underneath. Of course Peter and his aunt weren't there so I could revel in getting as comfy as possible. I waited patiently for the lady to come down so I could drink some tea and leave. It felt unnatural to be invited into her house when I'd just saved her identity keeping son. It all felt so dreamlike.

"I hope Peter hasn't been a handful. I-I'm just so surprised that he has a friend other than Gwen and Mary Jane," she said as she walked into the kitchen.

I was a little shocked to hear Spiderman was a loner. He was pretty hilarious when he bantered with his enemies. Wouldn't it only make sense that he did the same thing at school? Then again I was pretty awkward myself until my secret came out. Afterwards it just felt like I was Phantom full time and the quips kept rolling. A lot of people became my friends afterwards but I always stuck to Sam and Tucker. I missed them.

"Heh, he's the quirky kind of loner. I'm pretty much the same so we get along," I said giving half-truths.

"It's nice to know someone's looking out for him at school. I know he has Gwen but he comes home with bruises and I know he's getting bullied. It's just that annoying male-ego will not let me push into his life," she rambled as she put down some tea and some fruit cake.

I took the tea gratefully. After a whole week of slaving away for three children it felt nice to have someone else serve me instead. She reminded me of mom and that hurt a little but I could get over it. I was going to find a way back home no matter what.

"I'll try my best," I said while sipping the tea. It was good. It tasted like mom's tea. I felt the water crowd my eyes and I quickly blinked it away. I was not a cry-baby. I was not going to break down because I hadn't seen my family in a week. I was not going to break down with sudden the pressures of life. I'd killed myself before and dealt with it so I could definitely deal with being stuck in a different universe with complete strangers. I am going to be fine.

"Are you ok? Did Peter give you his bug?" she asked.

 _Arachnid._ Oh god I was just about to correct her and say arachnid. Wow I was becoming emotional. I don't like being emotional. Tune down the angst to Level 1 Danny.

"I'm fine. I was just about to cry because I realised there was this- umm- essay due today that I completely forgot about," I lied. "Sorry Mrs Parker but I gotta go."

"Stop by sometime," she called out.

"Sure will," I replied honestly. Of course I was going to check up on Peter. His fever was no doubt making him see things and hallucinations weren't fun and games.

I was worried. I may have deleted as many online files as I could in the short term I had but there was always printed material, back-up drives, and loop-holes for safe storing information. Norman Osborn would have without a doubt figured out Peter's identity by now and that enough was terrifying. I shook my head, catching my raging thoughts. I had other things to worry about.

Transforming after looking around I took to the sky. My body ached tiredly, screaming for rest but first things first I needed to show the kids that I was alive- err half alive- and mostly well. Then I needed to go to work, then start back on the 'project'. I was planning to involve Greg into it. I had no identity and it wasn't going to be such a far off claim that a man who worked with electronics most of his life would manage to make a hover board. Then I could half the shares with him, spread joy to little kids around the world, and get enough money to move to a better apartment and purchase better equipment for the portal. How did I know this was going to be a success? Well I'd created the Fenton Hover Board in my Phantom Gadgets franchise. People around the world swam to buy it and I was practically a millionaire because of it. A lot of little kids looked up to me and literally worshipped me for making their dreams come to.

Of course it was a harmless gadget for fun but it was ground breaking as far as technology went. Hover cars were the next step of course but that was a bit of a leap considering magnetised roads would need to be made to sustain such technological development. Amity was always recovering from the latest ghost attack so money was mostly spent repairing already existing roads. The price of insurance was insane… never mind I'm getting of track. I'm in a whole new universe now where aliens attack.

"Is Spiderman ok?" Lilly asked.

"Yeah, he's back at home resting," I replied.

"Does he have a secret lair?" Tod asked with bright eyes.

Man this kid had no idea. Peter probably only had a secret _closet_ so he could store away his glorified onesie.

"You mean like a spider-cave. That would be cool but he just lives in a normal house with his family," I replied bursting Tod's bubble.

"Aww that's lame," he sniffled.

"And that's why your uncy Phantom is the most awesome superhero," I said trying to get the kids on my side. "I had a secret science basement at home with a portal to the Ghost Zone and everything."

"That sounds super-villan-y," Tod said scrunching up his face.

Ok the kid did have a point there. Secret science labs with portals to the realm of the dead… man maybe I should have been a villain. I would have had the whole gig done right. Evil lair, kind of scary origin story, parents who hated my guts… wow. Why wasn't I a super-villain again?

"Villains are just misrepresented loners," I replied coming to my sage-like conclusion.

"Don't go filling Tod's head with nonsense," Cal grumbled.

"But Danny's right. Did you see the colours the yellow villain was wearing? He looked like a walking flash light. Maybe they're just lonely and want some attention," Lilly put in.

"Not you too Lilly," Cal groaned.

"Yellow villain? Don't you mean Shocker?" I ask as I held out the newspaper.

Lilly blushed and folded her arms in exasperation. "Well it's not like I would know because I can't read"

My world froze for a second. Lilly was 12 years old and she couldn't read?! What on earth were schools teaching them?

…Oh right they didn't go to school.

It took all my will power to not simply groan out loud at my own stupidity. Here I was trying to provide for them but the idea of school didn't even pass my head. Could you blame me? I had to worry about the next meal. It wasn't like I had thought ahead to school.

"Can you two read?" I asked looking at Cal and Tod. They shook their heads and I felt horribly guilty. They didn't even have basic education. How old were they when they decided to run away from the orphanage anyway? "You'll have to go to school."

"Don't we need a guardian for that?" Cal asked although his voice did sound suddenly hopeful.

"Yes, yes… I'll figure out something. Heck I could ask Claire or maybe Greg. Why didn't you guys say something sooner?"

Caleb seemed to shuffle nervously as he looked away. Some sort of guilty expression crossing his features. It made me angry and sad and frustrated.

"You had to take care of the three of us. It's not easy. I know you sleep on an old mattress. I know you sometimes skip out on meals so that there's enough for us. Even Tod and Lilly have noticed," Cal explained getting guilty expressions from the other two as well. "School's cost a lot and we didn't want to-"

"-Worry me more," I finished for him. I didn't know whether I should be proud, frustrated or just plain angry. I was leaning more towards the angry side. I was angry with myself mostly. I needed to get my act together. I needed to get the hover board completed and sold to some company or another. I needed to do it fast. "Look guys. I absolutely appreciate that you worry about me but it's not your job. You're too young to be worrying about money. You should be at school learning, worrying about exams and your next crush."

"You should be in school to," Lilly said pointing at me.

"Ditto," I agreed, "but I'm still older than you and you need to let your betters take care of you more. I'm not just going to leave you without an education."

"We're going to school?" Tod asked with the most freaking adorable face the in the world. It seemed to light up like it was Christmas. My heart sank a little. I used to hate being a Fenton but looking at these kids I couldn't be happier that I was born into a family, even if it was a zany one.

"Yes you're going to school. By the end of this week I'll finish my fake id and then you'll be enrolling," I said. "Until then go make yourself some two minute noodles while I go out to work."

The kids groaned in unison. They hated it when I didn't cook for them. That was like the only thing they ever whined about, not that I blamed them, considering they were dumpster divers for the better part of a year.

I felt bad leaving them alone and going out for the better part of the day (and night). I could suddenly see why people raised families in pairs. Someone had to stay back to ease the conscious after all. At least Tod wasn't 2. If he was then I would have been mentally stuck on how to take care of him. I flew quickly back to work, thanking my ability to fly at insane speeds once again. You never had to be late or worry about traffic with my skills.

"Danny, you're back. Did you find out about your friend?" Greg asked curiously.

"Yup, apparently he got in with the wrong crowd and got caught," I lied. I hated lying. "I had to bail him out."

"Well it's good that you're here because we got in three orders of broken laptops," he said pointing to the pile.

I sighed and decided it was time to break it to Greg. The man was wasting his talents drudging away at this old shop. It was time for us to become rich! I pulled out the plans for the hover board from my bag and handed it to him.

"What's this?" he asked.

"The designs for a hover board," I replied easily.

He looked over it thoroughly impressed. "This looks pretty theoretical. Are you sure this will work?"

"I've made one before," I said in all honesty. "It worked."

"We could be rich," he said in amazement.

"That's the plan," I replied.

"Why are you showing me this?"

I smiled. I needed Greg to be the one to make the deals. First of all my identity in this world was still fake and if people wanted to really look into it, it would raise a few warning bells. I mean it was enough to get me by without suspicion but corporate dealers and rich businessmen knew things that others didn't. I had enough experience with Vlad to know that he'd personally kicked hundreds of DalvCo employees out because of a bad fake id.

"I'm still running from my parents and plus I'm mostly a minor. I was hoping that we could make a deal and half the patents so that I could make life a little easier for you and my siblings."

"Of course!" he exclaimed, practically jumping with joy, wild white hair bobbing up and down. "The materials will be a little costly to procure but if we manage to sell this then there'd be nothing to worry about. Do you have anyone in mind to sell it to?"

I smirked. "Stark Industries of course."

* * *

 **People have been saying that Danny is sort of up himself. I'm glad he's kind of annoying because there's meant to be character development and all that. Personally I find cocky personalities hilarious but I can understand if people hate them. Danny sort of uses self-praise to take away some of his insecurities and also because sometimes the things he brags about are true. Thanks for reading guys. Follow, favourite and review if it was worth your time**

 **~Llama out**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 **Woo another chapter for you! I won't bore you with a note so let's get started.**

* * *

Osborn was not having a nice day. His day actually went from nice to _extremely_ horrible in the span of a few hours. He'd finally caught Spiderman! Peter's identity was not his priority but his blood samples were. Norman looked at the DNA strands he was so enthralled by the DNA that he forgot to keep a closer watch on Peter. It was surprising to find out his son's friend had turned out to be a result of one of his very own experiments. It was even more so surprising that it was Peter of all people. The fumbling nerdy boy who helped his son pass classes was _Spiderman_. Of course in the back of his mind the Spider was not going to go anywhere for a long time so the Spider could wait. What he didn't expect was for the hero to be busted out so quickly and by…

Deadpool

That name sent shivers of rage down his spine. He hated Deadpool. Norman had tried fruitlessly a while back to hire the expensive mercenary. He had even put up with negotiations with the infuriating mercenary and had to suffer through the unusual torture of holding a conversation with the immortal man. After his troubles he finally got a clear… that was until Deadpool found out he conducted human experiments. After that the annoyingly talkative merc had become a constant thorn on his side. The only positive aspect of this encounter was he was able to find out Spiderman's identity and at manage to keep one remaining blood sample.

Of course it wasn't just the rumoured Merc with the Mouth that came. Daredevil had accompanied the rescue mission too along with a mysterious figure. Norman was not pleased. Had he known that Peter had allies he would have put up far more safety measures. So far he had been updated that the swinging menace was simply a loner hero. Sure he knew of the occasional team up with the devil of hell's kitchen but he was at least certain that Deadpool was not his ally… well as far as he was concerned that lunatic just did whatever he wanted so it was unsurprising when he found his involvement in rescuing Parker.

Daredevil aside what really frightened the CEO of OsCorp was that one of his own men (woman actually) had decided to suddenly go rouge on him. Lisa Stillbourne had been an exemplary scientist who had worked on countless of his chimera projects, his attempts at replicating the serum and she was one of the few doctors who knew of his condition. He would not have expected a woman of her calibre and standing to have turned on him. The most disturbing piece of evidence was that she claimed to have been possessed, as if she was watching herself in third person, controlled by a person who called himself Danny and was called Phantom by Daredevil.

"Search up Phantom," Norman ordered one of his trusted employees.

The search result came up with a teen wearing a jumpsuit, his hair as pure as snow, and his mask a plain one with two laughing holes. He shivered as he looked into the toxic green glow that escaped the two eye-holes. The name Phantom suited this unknown finely.

"Sir if I may, Phantom is a recently sighted hero who is mostly sighted around Hell's Kitchen," his employee informed. "He's been known to fly, be able to shoot lasers and ice from his hands. It's also fabled that he can phase through objects and turn invisible. He's like a real life boogie-man."

"Clarence, set up a team. I want you to trail Phantom. If possible do not alert him of your presence. Record anything about him, where he patrols, when he patrols, how he behaves. If he leaves any traces of DNA or blood behind I _want_ it."

The authoritative tone behind Norman's voice was absolute. Doctor Nicholas Clarence quickly got to work. OsCorp had a few known hired guns for work but right now the task wasn't to kill Phantom. He needed someone stealthy enough to duck and follow. Clarence knew of only one group of people for that job: HYDRA.

* * *

1 month later:

It all felt so unreal. Here I was sitting with two heroes eating shawarmas? We sat on the edge of the roof, our legs dangling of the side of the building munching on the heavenly middle-eastern wraps. I thought I deserved it considering I had starved myself for two days as I worked nonstop on perfecting my hover board. It was such a pity that I couldn't put the name Fenton or Phantom on it. It still had that awesome black, white and neon green colour scheme though.

"Shouldn't we be fighting crime, busting some baddies, hanging up laundry or something?" I ask.

Daredevil snorted, lips curled in amusement. "Sometimes it's good to just take a breather and relax. You look like you haven't eaten in days."

"No wonder you're not growing," Peter laughed to which I hit his arm indignantly. "Oww~ I don't condone violence."

"Says the guy running around in a leotard beating up people," I retorted. Spidey's suit was so skin tight it made _me_ cringe. Well at least he had a pretty ripped body underneath. Still it showed way too much definition… even for me. At least my HAZMAT suit didn't define every curve and crevice of my body. The only reason I hadn't bought it up was because it seemed to be the in thing with a lot of male and female supers around here.

"Teenagers," Daredevil grunted.

"You never told me how you figured that out," Peter whined. Yeah Spider-boy had a real tight lip about his secret identity. He didn't even want people guessing his age. He told me it was about protecting his aunt and girlfriend or something like that. I could relate considering back home I'd stopped about 3 super-villain plots that involved using my family or friends against me. People just realised after a while that messing with my family meant they'd be missing a few essential body parts.

"Let's stop drilling him," I told Peter, "Devil-man loves keeping us hanging. Plus I have way more important news. My beautiful little ankle biters are going to school today! Can you believe it? _I_ can't believe it! You should see Tod in his little kindergarten outfit. I couldn't stop taking pictures. Do you think they're alright? I mean Cal's a little shy so do you think he's going to get picked on-"

"-Let's stop you right there Casper," Spiderman moaned in irritation. "You won't stop talking about them once you start. You're like a doting mother!"

I huffed. I couldn't help it. I never understood why mom and dad did that to me until I started taking care of those kids myself. I mean they're _my_ responsibility. When their practically yours the only thing you really want for them is to flourish. When they do something new like take their first steps in school and cook their first dish it just made me so darn _happy_.

… Ok I was a doting mother.

"Didn't take you for a family man," Daredevil commented with a smile tugging his mouth.

"Well not many would take a dead teenage ghost as a family person," I agreed laughing a little.

"How did you manage to convince child services?" he asked, "you know what with being dead and all."

"That's simple. I have a human identity as well. Don't ask how. Anyway I finished up my fake id so I'm like their older brother by law and since I'm 'above 18', I'm legally allowed to take care of them. So I signed them up for school the moment I could."

There was a moments second that was peaceful. For a while I could just forget that I was stuck in a different universe, that I had insane financial burdens I really shouldn't have to worry about at my age, and that I had no idea if my home was safe. Ok stuff that- my thoughts were still on the kids.

"Do you want to see pictures?" I asked excitedly, breaking the silence.

Peter groaned in irritation and Daredevil just laughed at his reaction (possibly because he couldn't see them even if he wanted to- which he didn't). Peter would have to deal with it because I was not about to quit my excitement for about another week. I was the most proud big brother in the world after all.

My attention was sparked when Peter nearly dropped of the building. I quickly grabbed him by his collar and pulled him up. I worriedly bent over him unsure of what had just happened.

"Spidey, Spidey, are you ok?!"

"Kid, talk to us?" Daredevil said, his gruff voice conveying his worry as well.

"Ugh- I-I'm fine," Spiderman groaned as he sat back up. "Recently my senses have been dialled up like a hundred fold. Sometimes it's too much to process."

I looked at him in worry. Was this a side effect of the virus he was injected with or was he just going through spider puberty or something? Did spiders even go through puberty?

"Well give me a call if you ever need help with it," I offered to which I received a reluctant nod.

* * *

Norman paced his room before getting a phone call. Finally he would be updated on what Phantom was doing!

*Sir*

"What's Phantom up to?"

*Sir… he's um… eating Shawarma with Daredevil and Spiderman sir.*

"Call me when you get something fucking useful!" Norman growled in anger.

*Sir you said you needed updates on his every-*

"Are you a fucking retard? Use some fucking common sense! Call me when he's doing something interesting! Don't waste my time!"

*Yes sir-*

Norman cut the phone and chucked it on the floor. It broke instantly and he grumbled.

"Why do IPhones have to be so fucking weak?"

* * *

I felt more than happy today. The kids were of on the first day of school, I caught up with my super-bros and I was going to take the hover board for a sales pitch today… or at least Mr O'Neil was and I was just going to tag along with the pretence of an apprentice. We were going to Stark Tech! That place had a million different things I wanted to explore, not to mention a hero that literally wore a metal suit with missiles and laser blasters in it. Skulker much? I was just happy this guy wasn't about to take my pelt. Poor Peter had to deal with Kraven the Hunter. The universe must've had a running gig about hunting down teenage superheroes in spandex.

"You're jittery," Greg said with a smile.

"You kidding? This company has insane tech! Touch-screen holograms, a fully functional Ai program that hasn't gone rouge and tried to take over the world (although there was Ultron), and Iron freaking Man! If our hover board actually sells we'd become business partners with one of the most leading companies in technology I've ever seen! After I make them an interdimensional portal sometime in the future they'd be like the epitome of a sci-fi company!"

"Interdimensional portals?" Greg asked with a chuckle, "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

I didn't comment on how I actually had the knowledge to build one myself… but then again that was Ghost Zone stuff and the money needed to pay for the materials was crazy unaffordable. Mom and dad were only able to accomplish it with all their last bits of pennies going towards it. But once I became a millionaire with the patents I would have on the hover board, a thing like money really wouldn't be a problem. I could buy so many things for the kids as well and we wouldn't be living in borderline poverty anymore.

"Are you sure you don't want to take credit for the design?" Greg asked, his voice guiltily expressing his concern.

"And have people question me left and right- no thanks. The last thing I want is attention on me," I said quickly. "Ok maybe just tell them I _helped_ tweak it and stuff."

"Can do son," he replied with a giant grin. "Let's blow their roof of!"

I fist bumped the old man as we got out of the car. He really was just a kid stuck in an old man's body. I pulled up the tie and hoped I looked presentable… well as presentable as I could in an old second hand suit I barely was able to afford.

Stark Tower was _huge._ Well it was the Avengers tower right now but it still seemed a lot more Stark like than Avenger-y. Of course this world was crazy enough to have a billionaire superhero that looked like he came straight out of the comics. This world's history was insane. They had random humans popping up with powers calling themselves mutants. They even had an off-branch NAZI group with a clichéd evil super-villain and everything, named the Red Skull of course because that didn't totally scream evil. If that didn't scream cheesy evil lines and classic villain tropes than I didn't know what did. It was also pretty cool how their WW2 War hero somehow came back from the dead. It seemed there was a lot more interesting events in this world then there had been in mine. That didn't mean I didn't want to leave. My family was still there and that was enough to make me want to back-peddle across the sea just to visit them. It had been 3 months since I came here and it really was taking a toll on my confidence.

"Come on Danny, lighten up. We might not be meeting Mr Stark himself but a senior executive branch director is still pretty high up."

That wasn't why I was suddenly gloomy but I decided to plaster a smile to ease his worries. I needed to make a good impression today. I needed this.

* * *

Tony Stark fiddled with his new suit and was becoming increasingly bored. Yes it was a technological marvel, yes it was pretty awesome, yes it saved his life a million times… but it was also sort of boring creating the same thing again and again. Sure he changed a little design flaws, tweaked it a little to withstand more pressure or work better in different terrain but it was still so darn easy and _familiar._ The only familiar thing he wanted in his life was Pepper Potts and maybe some of his Avenger friends.

"JARVIS, is there anything interesting going on?" Tony asked swivelling in his chair.

"There is currently a board meeting proceeding on the continual decline of Stark profit due to clean up work-"

"No, no, no I mean like something _interesting._ Is there some sort of new exciting invention or somebody doing something ridiculous you want to show me from the cameras?"

"I'm afraid showing you footage of that kind is considered a violation of the privacy contract from page 134… however there is a meeting scheduled currently on the selling rights of new hover technology."

"Why didn't you just say so earlier? JARVIS take me to their current location."

"As you wish Tony"

* * *

I nearly fell of the hover board during the demonstration when the door swung wide open to reveal Tony Stark. I had to admit during my time in this world I had grown a secret crush on the man. He was rich, wealthy, and confident, revealed his secret identity on his own terms, and didn't give a rats ass about what others thought about him. He was everything I had wished I had done in the past… well except for sleeping around with girls and being a playboy. To add to that he was a genius and his tech was amazing!

"We're taking it!"

Now even Mr O'Neil's face was slack jawed. Did the _Tony Stark,_ head of the _Avengers, CEO_ of _Stark Industries,_ just agree to my invention himself? Wow… just wow. I slapped my face. Pull yourself together Fenton, you're _worshipped_ back home. Millions of teenage girls have shrines of you in their lockers! Since when were you such a fan-boy anyway?

My internal scolding did not go unnoticed by the people around me and I blushed before regaining balance on the board. I turned it off using the switch on the back end of the board, clipping it down. The hover board gently lowered itself down and I practically had to hold myself back from stuttering like a fool.

"M-Mr Stark, i-it's a meet to pleasure you. I mean it's a pleasure to meet you sir, Mr Stark," I fumbled.

"Please call me Tony," he said easily as he picked up the board to inspect it. "This is real impressive work-"

"Gregory O'Neil," Greg replied shaking his head in wonderment.

"We'll buy it but first I need to see the legalities."

"Of course," Greg said as he fumbled through the documents.

I watched biting my lip in anticipation. We paid a lot of money to get this patented. The invention was done in time but the legalities were important. Any technology could be used for harmful purposes. A hover board was in no way different. The nature of this invention meant that there were overseas risks to consider as well. In the end we paid about $3000 dollars to get the legalities through. Everything hinged on Stark placing his faith on the nature of the machine.

"You've gone through everything," he said with a smile. "I'm glad you don't think this should be used for military purposes but you don't have to worry. Stark Industries has stopped providing for the military years ago."

I let out a breath of relief although Greg probably didn't really care about that bit. I'd seen what the military did with my parents inventions and when I had released the Phantom range I'd made sure that they couldn't touch my tech. I hated killing and I hated the power we held in our hands. I could trust myself with that power, and that was only because I kept a reign check on my morals every day, but I couldn't say the same about others.

Stark must've noticed the relieved expression on my face because I instantly pulled my features back in a tight line. He smiled at me! Ugh it was _that_ smile. Oh by Clockwork, the last time I got that smile from someone it had been Vlad and he had thrown me into another freaking universe!

"How would you like a place in my company Greg? Can I call you Greg?"

"Yes- I mean sir, I'd be honoured but I'd only agree if you accepted my apprentice as well. He played a major role in creating the hover technology."

"Yes of course he did," Stark said with an all knowing look.

Ok there it goes again! What was it with billionaires and _that_ smile? Just what was it that he knew about me that he wasn't saying? I followed after them regardless, trying to put on my best poker face. Thankfully Greg was answering Stark's questions on how it worked perfectly. I'd made sure he understood it so that it looked like it was him who made it. It physically hurt me to do so but this wasn't my world. I couldn't be as open here as I was in other places.

"Well it was nice meeting you Mr O'Neil, Danny," he said giving me one long glance before smirking and leaving with the board.

"We're rich!" Greg practically screamed as he went outside. A few people threw us curious glances before walking by with their lives. "You my boy are winning my all-time favourite employee award."

"That's funny because I thought I already was," I replied cockily.

"Come here kid," he said as he pushed me into a choke hold and ruffled my hair.

I groaned in irritation as I pulled away and tried to fix up my messy hair. "I'll be good as long as we keep our deal. You know the one about halving the money."

"Personally Danny, I think you deserve more than half but I'll keep it. How about we take the kids out for a treat today as well?"

"You mean like to a real restaurant?" I asked.

"Yeah a real posh one," he grunted in agreement.

"Will do. Did I tell you it's their first day at school today?"

"Only for like the whole morning," he replied with an irritated smile but a lot of understanding. "I did the same thing when my boy went to school for the first time. So do you want me to drive you to their school?"

"That would be awesome."

We got into the car. I was practically bouncing up and down in my seat. Tod was adorable so he should be fine. Lilly had enough sass to verbally beat down Doctor Doom if she wanted. It was Cal I was a little worried about. He didn't like talking to other boys. I couldn't blame him. After what he had gone through I didn't want him near _any_ men I didn't personally trust myself. Of course I pulled some strings and got him a female teacher instead. I was about to stalk him but he said if he caught me watching him in class he would not hold Lilly back from doing the usually stupid things she tries for a whole week. I couldn't deal with that so I reluctantly agreed.

"You look so out of place as a parent," Greg laughed.

"I'm not old enough to be a dad! I'm more like their awesome big brother!" I protested.

"Did I say you look like a dad? You're more like a mother hen," he teased.

I groaned. Why did everyone compare me to a mom? Was I even that motherly? Didn't they know they were shattering my highly inflated male ego that I had nurtured for most of my adolescent life? Thankfully that train of thought was interrupted when we stopped in front of the school. I practically jumped out of the car in excitement. I wanted to tell them everything that happened and I wanted them to tell me what it was like.

Lilly was waiting by the gate holding Tod's hand while Caleb was brooding next to her. Yup, that's exactly what kids should look like. I liked this. This was way better than them living out in the streets holding guns fending for themselves, and diving through trash for food. A smile etched across my face.

"How was your first day? Did you make friends? Did anyone give you crap? If they did just call me up and I'll teach them a lesson-"

"We're fine, Danny," Cal huffed although he gave me that look that said 'please go on I want you to coddle us more'.

"I made three new friends!" Tod said holding up his fingers.

"And you learnt how to count. You're a quick learner," I said proudly as I picked him up.

I noticed Lilly was a little quiet. Her usually perky attitude was dimmed down and she seemed to have shrunk into herself. Wait was this the real Lilly or had she been abducted by aliens. That wasn't such a far off claim was it? I mean aliens _did_ attack this world before.

"How did it go Lil's?"

"It was fine," she huffed, although by the way she acted it was obviously _not_ fine. I really didn't know how to comfort her. I had never really been one to comfort others. Usually I was the loner that needed comforting. Would changing the subject help? Where was Jazz when you needed her?

"Hey how about we go out for some dinner today? I'll take you guys out shopping and everything! We can buy a new Tv and a Playstation and everything."

Cal and Lilly perked up at hearing the word Playstation before a guilty expression crossed their faces. I realised I hadn't broken the good news to them yet. I was about to tell them when Greg decided to break it to them.

"You're _mommy_ and I sold an invention to Stark Industries. We're practically rich now. Of course the money's only going to roll in a couple of days from now but we can spare the change."

"I'm not their mommy," I growled before huffing. "But we're not holding back today. We're going shopping and then we're going to go to a real restaurant and have some awesome Chinese food! We'll definitely get the expensive sea-food platter and everything!"

* * *

I slumped onto the new bed I had just bought. It was queen sized and practically fit everyone on it. The whole day played over and over in my head and I couldn't help but smile. This may have been a different universe but I couldn't say that I didn't make the most of it. It had been a great day. We got my invention patented. The kids finally started going to school. We went out and bought clothes that weren't second hand, then proceeded to buy a flat screen tv and a Playstation with a few games. We even went to a really good Chinese restaurant and ordered as much food as we wanted. For the first time in three months I was going to go to sleep without an empty stomach.

Tod lay next to me followed by Lilly and Caleb. It was still a bit tight sleeping on one bed together but they liked it. Tod especially had wanted me to sleep with them the moment we started our journey together. I had declined considering I was tinkering on my ecto-purifier and that was top priority- even to sleep. Well now- now I was in a world where I was an alien but it seemed a little better. If I weren't here the kids sitting next to me would have gone down a seriously horrible path. At best they would have been stuck in the streets most of their childhood before joining a gang and at worst they would have been victims of human trafficking like Caleb almost was. They were the only reasons I didn't regret coming here, they were the reason for my sanity.

"Danny," Tod said yawning a little as he turned to me.

"What's up little man?" I asked.

He smiled lazily at me as he buried his face into my chest. "You're the bestest thing that ever happened."

I was speechless.

Some part of me melted to those words. I pulled my arms around him protectively and smiled, tears brimming, threatening to spill. There was something so different about what he said. So many people, girls, boys, parents, all of them said the same thing. _Phantom you're awesome! You go Phantom! I love you Phantom! You're my favourite superhero!_ None of that made me feel this way. They said it because they thought of me as a far of celebrity. It was a passing moment of praise and approval. I had for so many years longed to hear them cry out those words of admiration. When it happened I was elated, over the world, but I was afraid. One wrong move and they would turn on me.

This- this was different. I didn't need the world's approval. I already had theirs.

The sound of light snoring emptied across the mostly bare room. The kids were asleep. _Safe._ They were where they were meant to be. I gently pushed Tod aside, reluctant to let go of the sleeping child. Cal would murmur. I heard it every night. He didn't wake up screaming anymore but he was still haunted by his memories. I sang to him most nights and he would instantly curl up a softer expression on his usually taunt face. I couldn't be there for him all the time. The idea annoyed me but I had work to do. They weren't the only ones needing my help. People outside were being murdered, robbed, raped every night and I couldn't let it happen.

I transformed into my ghost half before flying through the wall. Daredevil didn't appreciate me invading his nightly crime extermination project but Spiderman welcomed my help. It must be because with my help we could take turns sleeping and patrolling. He wasn't as clumsy as he was before due to fatigue and neither was I.

I flew down behind a mugger. Wow these people never quit did they? I mean if you know a bunch of super powered people in tight spandex was running around all night you'd think they would back of. It was kind of cute how they thought we couldn't stop them.

I yawned loudly catching the attention of the mugger. "You know Phantom's need sleep too. Why don't you guy lay off for one night. You know tone down the 'I want to commit crime' attitude and go watch a movie or something?"

"What is it with _you_?" he asked me back in frustration. "Don't but in kid! I need to provide for my family!"

I stepped back a little and crossed my arms defensively. He had a family. He needed to provide for them… just like me. I didn't hurt innocent people just to do it though. Before I could do or say anything webs flung out from the distance pinning the man to the wall as the victim ran towards me with a shriek.

"Phantom, are you getting soft?" Peter asked teasingly.

"What- no. I was just- making conversation?"

"Sure, sure. Hey lady, are you ok? What are you even doing walking around in the middle of the night in an alley way for? Are you _asking_ someone to mug you cause you might as well be wearing a sign saying 'mug me please'," Peter asked in irritation.

"Don't mind him. Underoos has his jumpsuit panties in knots," I grumbled.

"Thank you," she said in relief as she shook my hands. Something stung my hand and I pulled it away just as quickly. "Sorry about that. Long nails tend to scratch," she apologised.

"No harm done. Can you get home by yourself?" I asked.

"Y-yes," she said before waving an awkward goodbye and leaving.

I flew up to the rooftops. Peter always had calling the police covered so I never worried about it. Somehow some part of me felt like I had missed something important. Like that lady was… dangerous? I don't know how I came to that conclusion but she seemed kind of… well off.

"My spider senses were tingling," Peter said catching me off guard.

"Well my ghost sense didn't go off so she's definitely human, and female, and harmless… I think?"

"Human females are anything but harmless," he said with a shuddering voice.

"Experience?" I asked smirking, although he probably wouldn't see it through my mask. "Is _Mary Jane_ that scary?"

"You wouldn't be making fun of me if you had a girlfriend," he replied unfazed. "Once this is over do you want to go catch a bite tomorrow? I mean not as heroes but y'know as normal people."

"You want me to be a pleb?" I asked him smiling underneath my mask. "What did your Aunt May tell you, you need to socialise?"

"Urgh, how do you always guess?" he groaned in frustration. "Yeah she wants me to 'socialise' but I think she's just making an excuse to invite you over again. She said you can bring the kids."

"Wait you told her about the kids? She doesn't think they're mine does she?"

"Nah I told her they were your siblings… was that- um- not fine with you?" he asked awkwardly.

"It's fine. It's fine. Just making sure," I replied assuringly. He seemed to calm down and sigh in relief. When it came to secret identities Pete was always fretting.

"We should get back to work"

"Yup"

We went our different ways. Somehow the incident with the lady made me worry. Why was she on my mind all of a sudden? It wasn't that odd… we shook hands and she had incredibly sharp nails. Other than that she looked pretty much like every other generic mugging victim; stupid, ditsy and with zero self-preservation instincts… well at least the ones running around in the middle of the night wearing brightly coloured clothes.

Oh well the rest of the day was amazing. Why couldn't the night be as well?

* * *

 **Oh Danny you just jinxed yourself!**

 **That took forever to write but it was fun. The plot really does start in these few chapters starting with Osborn finding out Peter's identity and things spiralling down from there. I tried to be humorous but I'm not exactly sure if I am. I'm more of a sarcastic kind of person who lives to point out the absurdities of life so other kinds of humour just go way over my head.**

 **Who else loves the whole Spiderman, Daredevil and Phantom friendship? I thought of adding Deadpool into the mix but Danny kind of hates the guy (XvX). The Avengers, mutants, fantastic four and other heroes will be mentioned later. Not sure if I want to add the defenders in there or even the inhumans. I just don't have enough knowledge on those aspects of the Marvel universe. I'll have to do some reading up and because of that I unfortunately have to take some time off, to scan through the plot overview to make sure the story is enjoyable. So I'm terribly sorry if my next update takes a while (T_T)**

 **I love all of you guys who reviewed, followed and favourited my story and I hope you enjoyed reading my story so far!**


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